Krishna Pushkarams trial run on July 19, says Chief Minister

Maximum possible level should be maintained at the Ghats, he says

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu launching the logo of Krishna Pushkarams in Vijayawada on Friday.— Photo: By Arrangement

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu called for making Krishna Pushkarams a memorable event and wanted a trial run to be done on July 19 on the occasion of Aashadha Pournami.

He instructed the officials to conduct ‘Nadi Harati’ from the first day (August 12) and ensure that the event is free from any untoward incident at 81 Ghats being spruced up in 16 mandals across three districts.

At a review meeting on the arrangements for the Pushkarams here on Friday, Mr. Naidu said the Irrigation Department should take up dredging of the river to ensure that the maximum possible level was maintained at the Ghats for the convenience of devotees. He suggested to the Railway and municipal officials to put up railings along the tracks and get them decked up with plantations in addition to sprucing up the 30 stations identified for beautification and augmentation of infrastructure under the aegis of a special purpose vehicle to be floated by the Railways and the State government.

Mr. Naidu said he would hold one of the review meetings during the conduct of the festivities at Srisailam and wanted the entire officialdom to keep in touch with him throughout the 12-day festival.

He ordered that the Police and the R&B Departments must take out traffic rehearsals three days in advance to get their action plans right and pointed out that the technologies to be provided by Google would be of great help for crowd control and traffic management.

Officials told the Chief Minister that 24 Pushkar Nagars were being built in Vijayawada city and 10 in Guntur district. A huge Pushkar Nagar was being constructed in 33 acres near Lam in Guntur. The cost of these facilities (Pushkar Nagars) was estimated to range from Rs.24 lakh to Rs.1 crore. Works costing Rs.154 crore had been taken up by the Endowments Department.

Mr. Naidu took a detailed stock-taking with the officials of all departments and wanted the arrangements to be completed by July 15 to have some time to plan for any contingency.

Naidu directs

officials to conduct ‘Nadi Harati’

from the first day

of the event