Vijayawada: Over 50,000 devotees throng Durga temple

Vijayawada: The rush of Bhavanis increased on Sunday, the second day of the 5-day Deeksha Viramana at Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri. Over 50,000 devotees wearing traditional Bhavani Deeksha dress thronged the temple since morning and the rush continued till evening.

On the first day, around 40,000 devotees had darshan. The temple administration has made elaborate arrangements for the hassle-free darshan. After taking bath and performing Giri Pradakshina, the devotees had darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga. They relinquished the Deeksha near the Mallikarjuna Mahamandapam.

Temple administration jad arranged separate queue lines for the entry and exit of the Bhavanis from the temple. Sunday being holiday, the rush of devotees increased compared to the first day.

Krishna District Collector J Nivas along with the officials inspected the arrangements and facilities provided for the devotees. He directed the authorities to constantly monitor the facilities and ensure all arrangements to be made for the convenience of devotees coming from different parts of the State. Collector Nivas along with VMC Commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh, Joint Collectors Dr K Madhavilatha and Siva Sankar, Sub-Collector GSS Praveen Chand and temple EO D Bramarambha inspected the facilities.

He visited Pushkar ghat, Sitammavari Padalu, bathing ghats, tonsuring centre and enquired about the facilities. He spoke to some Bhavanis and enquired about the arrangements. Collector also inspected the queue lines, medical camp arranged for the devotees and distribution of drinking water sachets and cloak room facility. He also checked out the Homagundam near Mallikarjuna Mahamandapam and Prasadam counters.

He instructed the VMC officials to keep the temple premises and nearby areas clean. VMC Chief

Engineer M Prabhakar, chief medical and health officer Dr Geetabhai

and other officials participated in the inspection.