The 12-day Godavari Maha Pushkaralu that takes place every 144 years was off to a festive start all along the river course in the five districts of Telangana on Tuesday.
A large number of people thronged pushkar ghats in Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts and had holy dip besides offering prayers to the deities in the temples located on the river bank. However, the turnout was thinner compared to expectations in Adilabad district. The rush was higher at the places with important temples with large number of devotees thronging Bhadrachalam, Kaleshwaram and Dharmapuri.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao along with a few of his family members took the holy dip in the river at Dharmpuri at the ‘muhurtham’ time of 6.21 am and offered ‘maha harathi’ to the river goddess. Several pontiffs also took the holy dip and offered prayers at different places in the State with Tridandi Sreemannarayana Chinna Jeeyar Swamy taking the dip at Bhadrachalam.
In spite of all the arrangements being put in place for the mega event the pilgrims had their share of hardship, particularly due to police stopping vehicles far away from pushakar ghats. At some places, vehicles were stopped even at a distance of about 5 km causing inconvenience to the aged and children.
Security up
Meanwhile, the government stepped up security arrangements at the important pushkara ghats following the stampede at Rajahmundry in Andhra Pradesh that led to death of 27 pilgrims. On the directions of the Chief Minister, Home Minister Naini Narsimha Reddy and DGP Anurag Sharma went to Kaleshwaram and Bhadrachalam to supervise the security.
The pilgrims started reaching the ghats from the wee hours of the day. Priests of the temples located on the river bank, particularly at Kandakurthy, Dharmapuri, Basar, Kaleshwaram, Kotilingala, and Bhadrachalam , commenced the ‘puja’ rituals at around 5.30 am and proceeded in a procession to the river amid chanting of vedic hymns.
At Dharmapuri, Minister for Endowments A. Indrakaran Reddy said the government was expecting a turnout of about 50 lakh pilgrims every day at all pushkara ghats in the State.
Adequate water flow was being maintained in the river with water release from Sriramsagar, Kadem and Yellampally projects.
