Administration gears up for 'Chandana Yatra' on May 7 in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: The district administration has made elaborate arrangements for the annual mega event 'Chandana Yatra' of Lord Srivarahalakshmi Nrusimha Swamy nija roopa darsanam (witnessing Lord true idol) on May 7.

Collector K Bhaskar along with other key officials on Monday reviewed the arrangements on the top and down hills of Simhachalam temple. The officials including endowments, police, GVMC, revenue, RTC, medical and health visited various places and inspected the arrangements. In view of severe cyclone threat, the Collector directed the officials to make the necessary arrangements for the devotees.

Over 2.5 to 3 lakh devotees are expected to throng the temple to have the Lord's darshan and blessings. Addressing media, the Collector said that in view of the previous experiences, this year, first priority would be given to common devotees only.

As thousands of devotees are waiting under scorching heat, the length of queue lines with shades would be increased. Carpets would be arranged covering all the queue lines, he added.

Exclusive timings were arranged for VIPs and VVIPs and no one would be allowed in general timings. This year, for the physically disabled persons, exclusive time slot was reserved from 4 pm to 5 pm and one assistant would also be allowed to have Lord darshan, the collector explained.

Medical and health departments would arrange special kiosks to attend the emergencies. The department is also deploying ambulances at various places.

The traffic would be stopped at Old Gosala from the city end and at Adavivaram Junction from Arilova-end. The Simhachalam devasthanam in association with RTC is arranging special free bus services from top to down hills and private vehicles will not be allowed. However, VVIP and VIP vehicles would be allowed to the temple.

Nija Roopa Darsan

Lord Srivarahalakshmi Nrusimha Swamy, except on Akshaya Tritiya, will be kept under 500 kgs of sandal paste. Every year, the pundits of temple will remove with blindfold the sandal paste with silver spoons after performing special rituals.

The process of removal of sandal paste will start at zero hours on May 6 and will be completed at about 3.30 am. Later, the temple ancestry chairman (Vijayanagaram Maharaja family) presently P Ashok Gajapathi Raju will have the first darshan followed by other priests.

Later, devotees will be allowed to have darshan. At about 10/11 pm, the darshan will be stopped and the first phase of sandal paste 125 kgs would be applied around the Lord Simhadri Appanna.