Rajanna-Sircilla (Telugu Bullet): Vemulawada temple has been decked up for Maha Shivaratri jatara, a three-day annual fair that starts on Wednesday.
Elaborate arrangements have been made for the religious congregation at a cost of Rs 1.8 crore with about four lakh devotees from different parts of Telangana as well as neighboring states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Chhattisgarh expected to visit the shrine on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri.
In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, district administration and temple authorities have taken all precautionary measures to check the spread of the virus and focusing more on sanitation.
The TSRTC authorities have decided to operate 792 buses on different routes to transport devotees. Also, the State-run Corporation will ply 14 buses from the Vemulawada bus stand to the shrine to transport pilgrims free of cost.
Besides decorating all shrines as well as a temple town with colourful fairy lights, pandals were arranged in a 3.2 lakh square feet area for the convenience of devotees.
In all, 16 water tankers have been pressed into service to supply water to devotees. Besides arranging 25 drinking water kiosks, 140 temporary taps have also been arranged in the temple town.
A total of 700 sanitation works were deployed to keep the temple premises clean for three days and 15 tractors were also engaged to shift garbage from the temple area.
In addition to 80 permanent toilets, 150 temporary toilets were constructed near the bus stand area besides 165 toilets in jatara ground area. As many as 22 doctors along with 80 paramedical staff are going to provide first aid to the devotees in medical camps set up in different places during the celebrations, said Krishna Prasad, temple Executive Officer.
The Temple tank area has been prepared for the two-day Shivarchana programme to be held on Thursday and Friday.
Besides arranging 160 CCTV cameras at important places, 2,000 police personnel including DSPs-12, CI-25, SI-90, ASI-250, Head Constables-600, women constables-60, women home guards-50, home guards-500 and district guards-120 were deployed to maintain law and order. Three vehicle parking lots have been arranged at different places to avoid traffic jams during the fete.
He appealed to the pilgrims to wear face masks in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic in the State. Devotees who stand in queue lines for darshan of presiding deity would be supplied drinking water as well as buttermilk.
