Grand Dasara celebrations on anvil

Vijayawada: Minister for endowments Kottu Satyanarayana said here on Tuesday that Dasara celebrations would be conducted on a grand scale this year at Kanaka Durga temple with the aim of providing hassle-free Darshan for every devotee.

Addressing the media on the Kanaka Durga temple premises atop Indrakeeladri here, he said that there had been minor hiccups every year in spite of the remedial measures taken.

The minister said that only ambulances and fire services would be allowed on the ghat road this year by setting up queue lines in the rest of the area.

Ne entrance at the toll gate would be for the devotees and the other entrance for the ambulance and fire service vehicles.

The minister said that on the lines of TTD, Rs 500 break darshan would be arranged for VIPs.

The darshan would be in five slots with each slot having 2,000 tickets.

Referring to the slot timings, he said that the first slot would start at 3 am to 5 am, 6 am to 8 am, 10 am to 12 noon, 2 pm to 4pm and 8 pm to 10pm.

The tickets issued for one slot would not be allowed for another slot. The MLAs would be given 1+5 free tickets. An MLA could recommend only one letter per day.

However, the West MLA, the East MLA and the Central MLA would be given an additional quota.

The minister said that it has been under consideration to allow only ten letters per day. The vehicles of the VIPs could be parked at the model guest house.

However, all these proposals would be submitted to the government for approval.

Stating that the Prasadam counters would be arranged at the exit gate, the minister said that the officials were instructed to maintain quality of the Prasadam.

The Laddu would be 100 gram in weight with good quality and the devotees would be served Pulihora, Chakkera Pongali and Daddojanam on buffet model. Executive officer Bhramaraba and others were also present.