A few days after the first round of consultative meeting, heads of various department and agencies have initiated action for arrangements for Vaikunta Ekadasi festival that falls on December 24.
Levelling of the grounds at Manalveli at the temple commenced on Monday with an earth mover being pressed into service for clearing the red soil.
The area was covered with red soil during Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s visit to 1,000-pillar mandapam in September for the inauguration of the extended schedule of annadhanam at the temple. “Located in front of the 1,000-pillar mandapam, Manalveli - as the name suggests, is a sprawling area where river sand is spread for religious functions.
It is an important spot during Vaikunta Ekadasi festival, as a large number of devotees arrive there to have darshan of Namperumal at the mandapam.
Important religious rituals are also performed at Manalveli, particularly during the course of ‘Raapathu’ – the second part of the festival,” say official sources. The red sand would be cleared from Manalveli and it would be covered with river sand in a few days,” sources said.
Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) has initiated action for ensuring prompt supply of power to the temple area.
“There are six transformers in Srirangam area including ‘kovil transformer’, ‘Ranga Ranga transformer’ and ‘Nelson transformer’. We have strengthened the Low-Tension (LT) lines, to start with,” say TANGEDCO sources.
There are 32 iron gates at various places through which the queue is regulated at the festival. The police and the temple employees would coordinate for regulation.
