An unexpected number of VIPs inconvenienced the massive turnout of pilgrims at the annual Chandanotsavam festival at the temple of Lord Sri Varaha Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy in Simhachalam near here on Tuesday.
The annual Chandanotsavam festival, the only day on which devotees worship presiding deity of Simhachalam Sri Varaha Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy in his “nijarupa”, which started in the early hours of Tuesday saw a group of over 150 persons led by local Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao get into the temple disrupting the queue lines. As a result the queue of the ordinary pilgrims stretched beyond a kilometer outside the hill shrine.
The devotees waiting in the harsh sun turned restive and a woman devotee reportedly fell unconscious and has been shifted to hospital.
A large number of senior police officers have been deployed on the hill to ensure smooth movement of the pilgrims. The queue was longest between 8.30 a.m. and 10.30 a.m., police sources said citing experience from previous years. However, the administration did not plan for such large turnout of VIP visitors, police sources said.
The annual festival began with hereditary trustee Pusapati Anand Gajapati Raju offering silk robes to the Lord in the early hours. Endowments Minister P. Manikyala Rao and Minister for HRD Ganta Srinivasa Rao too offered silk robes to the presiding diety and had a darshan in the morning.
To make darshan as smooth as possible, authorities promise to attach top priority for darshan of ordinary devotees. Over 1.25 lakh devotees are estimated to worship the deity during the day. In 2014 the event witnessed a turn out of 1.1 lakh. To accelerate the darshan, the capacity of the four queue lines has been increased from 16,000 to 20,000.
