Nine-day Dasara fete begins on Indrakeeladri today

Vijayawada: The nine-day Dasara festival celebrations at Sri Kanakadurga temple atop Indrakeeladri will begin on Sunday. All the arrangements were completed by the temple administration and the whole temple premises was decorated with illumination and flowers on the occasion of the festival.

Goddess Durga will appear as Swarna Kavachalankruta Durga Devi on Sunday which is the first day in the nine-day festival. The devotees will be allowed for darshan from 9 am onwards. The Goddess will appear in different alankarams every day during the nine-day festival.

The devotees will be allowed for darshan after offering special puja rituals to Goddess Durga. The devotees will be allowed from 3 am to 11 pm in the remaining eight days beginning from Monday.

The queue lines and rooftop sheds were erected for the convenience of the devotees. The temple administration will also provide free meals for the devotees at temple choultry located on Arjun Street. Free meals will be offered to devotees from 8.30 am to 4 pm and 5 pm to 9.30 pm.

Similarly, free drinking water and buttermilk will be distributed in the queue lines. The VIPs will be allowed from 7 am to 8 am, 3 pm to 4 pm and 8 pm to 9 pm to have darshan of Goddess Durga during the nine days.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will offer silk saree to the Goddess on October 5 on the auspicious occasion of goddess Durga's birth star Moola Nakshatram. Minister for Endowments Velampalli Srinivas, who is also local MLA, has taken the responsibility to organise the festival prestigiously.

Minister Kannababu is monitoring the festival arrangements along with government machinery. A special control room has been set up at the model guest house which is at the footsteps of Indrakeeladri hill to supervise the devotees' traffic.

As per estimates, nearly 16 lakh devotees may visit the temple during the nine-day festival. As many as 5,700 staff including those from Police, Endowments, Revenue, and other departments have been deployed for festival duties.

The police diverted the traffic by not allowing the Hyderabad-bound vehicles towards the temple road. The Durga Temple Dasara Festival Committee has been appointed by the State government with 36 members. The Endowments Department issued orders in this regard on Friday night, a day before the beginning of festival celebrations. Majority of the members are sympathisers and workers of YSR Congress party.