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Lakhs of devotees converge for holy dip
The cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh transformed into sea of humanity as millions of people congregated in different bathing ghats to take holy dip in River Godavari on the 5th day of Maha Pushkaralu on Saturday. The pilgrims seemed to pour in from nowhere and people moving on the roads of Rajahmundry resembled a sea of humanity.
Rajahmundry:The cultural capital of Andhra Pradesh transformed into sea of humanity as millions of people congregated in different bathing ghats to take holy dip in River Godavari on the 5th day of Maha Pushkaralu on Saturday. The pilgrims seemed to pour in from nowhere and people moving on the roads of Rajahmundry resembled a sea of humanity.
It is estimated that more than 41 lakh pilgrims took holy dip in twin Godavari districts by 4 p.m on Saturday including 32 lakh in East Godavari and nine lakh in West Godavari districts and all the trains passing through Rajahmundry reported late-running by three to 12 hours or more.
Those coming by road were also delayed at the toll gates on the highway and due to traffic congestion. Rajahmundry witnessed unprecedented surge of humanity on Saturday causing traffic jams everywhere. Expecting huge crowds during weekend, The AP government has made all arrangements for the pilgrims. It is taking measures to ensure that the pilgrims go home safely after taking holy dip.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu monitored the situation from the control room and gave directions to the authorities on the diversion of the pilgrims to ghats where the congregation was less and regulate the traffic to prevent jams. While monitoring the situation from control room, Chandrababu Naidu made it clear that the machinery is geared up for the task and said that surveillance is being made through 171 CC cameras throughout the city and the movement of buses is being monitored through GPS system round-the-clock. He mentioned that he had asked the railway department to reduce the delay in running the trains and also told the toll gate operators not to obstruct the movement of the vehicular traffic.
He told them not to collect toll for two days as the traffic is very high. He further informed that the reception centres were set up in Krishna, Visakhapatnam and twin Godavari districts. He mentioned that 15,000 cusecs of water is being released from Sileru against the normal release of 5,000 cusecs for power generation. Meanwhile, the irrigation authorities have informed that they are maintaining water level of 31 feet at Sir Arthur Cotton Barrage to maintain good water level at ghats.
Railway passengers faced inconvenience at Godavari as well as other railway stations on Saturday as trains ran late by up to 12 hours and the passengers had to wait longer in railway stations. Though the South Central Railway operated extra trains, the special trains could not cater to the needs of surging crowds of pilgrims.
According to railway sources, one special train has been introduced towards Visakhapatnam. Seven trains are being operated towards Vijayawada in addition to 38 existing trains. About 40,000 pilgrims are coming to Rajahmundry from Vijayawada every day.
