Andhra Pradesh - Vijayawada   

Buses likely to be operated on ghat road from August 1

VIJAYAWADA: After a gap of six months, the ghat road to Indrakeeladri, the abode of goddess Kanakadurga, will be opened on August 1 for use by the general public. Since the blasting works have already been completed and the removal of debris is in progress, officials of Sri Durga Malleswara Swamivarla Devasthanam plan to resume vehicular traffic on the ghat road by allowing the buses operated by the Devasthanam during morning and evening hours. In all likelihood, a fully readied ghat road would be opened to traffic of all kinds from September 1.

Following a stampede at Om circle on the hill during ‘Bhavani Deeksha Viramana’ in January this year, which claimed six lives, the Krishna district administration decided to complete the ghat road widening work on a war-footing.

Subsequently, the works were started in the first week of February and the ghat road was closed for public immediately.

Since then, pilgrims visiting the temple have been using the steps to have a darshan of the goddess.

Though initially it was decided to complete the works by the end of March, there was some delay due to technical reasons like an unexpected increase in the number of blasts and problems encountered by the technicians in the entire process.

“Now, the blasting part is over and we plan to operate our buses between 5 a.m. and 8 a.m., again from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. from August 1. A decision to this effect has to be taken finally by the Endowments Commissioner, who is scheduled to inspect the works in the last week of this month,” said K.V.S.R. Koteswara Rao, Executive Engineer of the temple, while inspecting the ongoing works of debris removal on the ghat road on Wednesday.

“There will be no inconvenience to pilgrims visiting the temple during Dasara festival in the first week of October, as we plan to complete the works on Arjuna Veedhi simultaneously,” he said.

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