By: K.M. Dayashankar
Devotees throng the temple with Monday being an auspicious day. The ebb of crowd that thronged the bathing ghats at Eturunagaram and Mangapet mandal has receded.
It is estimated that more than six lakh pilgrims took holy dip in the river as part of Godavari Pushkaralu at Sri Kaleshwara Muktheeshwara Swamy Devasthanam in Kaleshwaram of Karimnagar district on Monday, the auspicious day for Lord Shiva.
Even though, the pilgrims rush swelled at Kaleshwaram temple shrine on Saturday and Sunday following the weekend holidays, the arrival of pilgrims was undeterred even on Monday. Since early morning, pilgrims from far flung places mostly from Hyderabad had arrived in large numbers to take holy dip in the river and have darshan of presiding deities at the temple shrine.
The district administration and police machinery made all arrangements for the smooth passage of pilgrims at the temple shrine and their vehicles en route without any traffic snarls. The queue lines were regulated effectively and the authorities have also provided drinking water in queue lines. Minister for Health C Laxma Reddy and Principal Secretary (R&B) Sunil Sharma, Joint Collector Pausumi Basu, OSD L Subbarayudu were camping at the shrine and overseeing the arrangements for the pilgrims. Similarly, the pilgrim rush continued to swell at Sri Laxminarasimha Swamy Devasthanam in Dharmapuri on Monday also. The devotees after taking holy dip in the river were seen offering prayers to the river Godavari and later formed serpentine queues for the darshan of presiding deities. Following the heavy pilgrim rush, Collector Neetu Prasad instructed the removal of special darshan queue line of Rs 100 and introduced common queue line for the smooth passage of pilgrims. Similarly, the police have also streamlined the vehicular movement by diverting them on various routes to avoid traffic congestion. Chief Whip Koppula Eshwar and Karimnagar legislator Gangula Kamalakar were also camping in Dharmapuri.
Two lakh take dip in Warangal
Warangal: The ebb of crowd that thronged the bathing ghats at Eturunagaram and Mangapet mandal has receded considerably on the seventh day here on Monday.
About 40,000 devotees took holy dip in river Godavari at Ramannagudem bathing ghats in Eturunagaram while close to one lakh devotees visited the bathing ghats at Mangapet mandal. With the rush coming down, the officials heaved a sigh of relief as there were no traffic snarl as witnessed on Saturday and Sunday. The event passed of smoothly on Monday at both the places. The water level in river Godavari witnessed a rise of 1.5 feet at the bathing ghats with rain in upstream area. The officials adjusted the danger mark fencing and cautioned people from going deep into the river bed.
District Collector Vakati Karuna said about two lakh people took holy dip at two bathing ghats. She said water level rose by one and half feet owing to rain in upstream area and they have alerted the people. “The crowd has come down and things are going smoothly,” she said. The district administration pressed into service 90 swimmers, 500 sanitation staff and over 2,000 police personnel besides employees of other government departments to ensure smooth passage of Godavari pushkarams in Warangal district. “These arrangements will be in place till the last day last hour,”Ms Karuna said. The district administration expects about a lakh of people every day for the next seven days. The Collector and SP AK Jha were camping at Eturunagaram and monitoring the situation every hour.
Source: The Hindu