Sirimanotsavam draws huge crowds

Vizianagaram: Hundreds of thousands of devotees attended the Sirimanotsavam procession in Vizianagaram on Tuesday. The procession was delayed by two hours due to poor arrangements, lack of proper supervision. It started around 5.00 pm from Chaduru Gudi of Pydithalli and moved slowly towards Fort. Chief priest of temple Bantupalli Venkata Rao mounted the Sirimanu which is around 30 feet, the devotees pulled the cart. All the roads were blocked as thousands of people arrived the town to see the holy event. Local fork arts like Puli Veshalu, Karra Samu were performed during the festival by the local artists.

Hereditary trustee, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju and other members of royal family, other VVIPs were at the Fort and took blessings from Goddess. Minister for endowments Kottu Satyanarayana offered silk robes to Goddess on behalf of government. Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, Speaker Tammineni Seetharam, Deputy speaker K Veerabhadra Swamy and MLAs visited the temple. Collector A Surya Kumari, SP M Deepika and others supervised the programme. The temple authorities, volunteer organizations arranged various cultural programmes during the festival. Harikatha, Burra Katha, other dance programmes were organised. Apart from all these Puli Veshalu is the special event here.