The on-going works at the city railway station for the coming Krishna Pushkaralu will be completed by July 30, a couple of weeks before the start of the festival, according to South Central Railway sources. The festival will be held from August 12 to 23.
A new waiting hall and two platform shelters will come up at Platform No. 10. “We are refurbishing the existing foot-over-bridges and undertaking repairs and remodelling works in all platforms for the benefit of thousands of pilgrims,” said an official who did not want to be quoted.
Sources also said the authorities were planning to set up temporary shelters at railway mini stadium and at the South and Western entrances. “Temporary shelters covering an area of 15,000 square feet will be spruced up near Vijayawada station and 10,000 square feet will be earmarked at stations near the city terminal like Krishna Canal, Rayanapadu, Madhuranagar, and Gunadala.”
An amount of Rs. 18 crores was sanctioned to make the station fighting fit to meet the requirements of the lakhs of passengers who would visit the station from all corners of the country for the festival.
Efforts are also on to install many closed circuit televisions and advanced public address system for the proper monitoring of the crowd and for security purpose.
The authorities are planning to curb vehicle parking around the station for 12 days to prevent traffic congestion.
Sources said as per the mass projection survey, nearly 50,000 pilgrims were expected to arrive at Vijayawada every day. “Extra efforts will be taken up during the peak hours when the traffic will be more.” A top official who went to study the arrangements of the railways at the Kumbh Mela held at Ujjain from April 22 has gathered several inputs and submitted a report to his higher-ups. “The Ujjain district administration and Madhya Pradesh State government had stopped the construction activity in the city for the last one year so that the open spaces could be used for temporary shelters. They allotted these open spaces for resorts,” he pointed out.
