2.38 lakh pilgrims take holy dip on day one

With Varalakshmi Vratham coinciding with the first day of the mega fete, less-then-expected crowd seen at bathing ghats

Seeking blessings:(Clockwise) Devotees taking a holy dip in Beechupalli bathing ghat, in Mahabubnagar district on Friday. A devotee taking a selfie while bathing at Krishnaveni ghat in Vijayawada. Women offering prayers at a Pushkar ghat in Mahabubnagar. Energy Minister G. Jagadishwar Reddy and his wife participating in the fete at Mattapally in Nalgonda. Endowments Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy and his family members taking a holy dip at Gondimalla bathing ghat in Mahabubnagar district.— Photos: Nagara Gopal, V. RAJU, Singam venkataramana

As the Krishna Pushkarams got under way from the early hours of Friday on a religious note, the first day saw lesser-then-expected crowd for multiple reasons.

As the day coincided with Friday in Sravana Masam , most women preferred to spend the time at home performing Varalakshmi Vratham . Also lending credence to this was the fact that Friday is followed by a ‘long’ weekend comprising a second Saturday, Sunday and Independence Day on Monday.

For one thing, most VVIPs chose to be there early on the first day itself including Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and a host of his family members, apart from his ministerial colleagues who took a holy dip at Gondimalla near Alampur in Mahabubnagar district.

The district administration had a hard time ensuring that everything went well and suffice it to say, they did succeed fairly well. According to control room at the District Collectorate, the number of people who took a bath was estimated to be over a lakh by late afternoon in Mahabubnagar.

In Nalgonda district, while the locals avoided going to the more popular bathing ghats, the prominent persons did utilise the opportunity of a relatively crowd-free opening day. Another deterrent, according to the locals, was that the approach road to Wadapally was still being laid on Friday even as District Collector P. Satyanarayana Reddy was moving on that stretch. The central control room at the Nalgonda Collectorate put out that about 1.38 lakh people had their ‘Pushkar’ bath at 28 ghats across the district.

Minister for Energy G. Jagadish Reddy had his holy dip at 5.58 a.m. at Mattapally, as the Collector, Joint Collector M. Satyanarayana and others watched, while at Wadapally, another important bathing ghat in the district, MP G. Sukhender Reddy and Miryalguda MLA N. Bhaskar Rao took their dip.

Among other reports received from across Nalgonda were that the movement of VIPs using their own vehicles was a hindrance. The Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) was given indications that they should not block the road space by pressing into service all the scheduled buses in the interior roads of the district, at least till afternoon.