Over 2,200 police personnel from traffic, crime and law & order wings are being deployed as part of bandobast for the Simhachalam Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple’s ‘Giri Pradakshina’ scheduled to be held on July 2 (Sunday). Being a weekend and the annual ritual followed by ‘Ashada Pournami,’ police officials estimate that at least five lakh devotees are expected to take part in the festival where they walk over a 32-km stretch.
Temporary toilets being arranged by the GVMC at Hanumanthuwaka in Visakhapatnam on Saturday. | Photo Credit: V RAJU
The city police, the Endowments Department and the Simhachalam devasthanam officials have been holding meetings for the last one month to gear up for the festival.
Police Commissioner C.M. Trivikrama Varma said that keeping in view the experience learnt during the Chandanotsavam festival, the police have decided to make the entire bus station on the Simhachalam Hill as ‘Buffer Zone’, where they would start the queue lines for the devotees. The buses will take a turn, pick up the devotees coming from the temple and leave, but they would not enter the bus stop area, he said.
Mr. Trivikrama Varma said that they will also be increasing the queue lines at ‘Tholi Pavancha’. For the convenience of the devotees, a coconut breaking point is also being arranged at the new ghat road by the devasthanam. As per the police, for every half a kilo-metre, there will be a police vehicle to assist devotees in case of any help. He said that no private vehicles will be allowed on the hill and devotees shall only use buses provided by devasthanam.
On Saturday, police teams were seen conducting checks along the 32-km stretch. Vehicles and establishments which were unauthorisedly seen on roads were being removed.
Inspector of Police (Traffic) Ch. Shanmukha Rao said that they would use ropes on the NH-16 at Hanumanthuwaka Junction and Venkojipalem Junction (Near Hanuman Statue). At Venkojipalem, devotees will use the service road and then cross the NH-16 near Hanuman Statue and leave towards H.B Colony, he said.
A large number of sanitation staff have been involved in cleaning works along the route. The corporation was seen setting up dustbins for every 100 metres. Bio-toilets, places for rest and around 100 drinking water kiosks are being arranged. Signage boards were being arranged. Defunct streetlights were repaired, while floodlights are being arranged at some places. Around 100 CCTV cameras were installed at several places to monitor the flow.
Barricades were being set up at Appughar Beach area. A meeting was organised with swimmers, where they were sensitised about the steps to be taken. As per the police, adequate lighting and public addressing system are also being set up. The police would use drones to keep a check on crowd monitoring, especially drowning cases.
Over 80 NGOs, organisations, members of resident welfare associations will be setting up relief centres distributing food, water and other essentials. A large number of people are also expected to donate food and other supplies along the route. Single-use plastic was banned in the festival.
