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Yadadri horse cart owners in turbulent times
People commonly follow the new trends and would like to travel in modern cars. But majority of devotees, who arrive at the holy shrine Yadagirigutta through different modes of transportation, prefer horse carts (tongas) to reach the famous Old Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple.
Maintenance of horses has become costlier. Except on holidays and festive days, the cart owners do not get much income to earn livelihood for their families
Yadagirigutta: People commonly follow the new trends and would like to travel in modern cars. But majority of devotees, who arrive at the holy shrine Yadagirigutta through different modes of transportation, prefer horse carts (tongas) to reach the famous Old Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple.
After reaching the holy place, pilgrims first go for the horse carts. They choose to travel in the carts which would provide them a novel experience.
Susheela, a native of Warangal district, said that she came along with family members and enjoyed horse ride during the visit to Old Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple. She further quipped that the children who had seen horses in films were happy to ride on the tongas.
As locals believe that the Lord roamed in the holy place on horse, the devotees prefer to take tongas to reach the temple. Even though the charges of horse carts are more than that of auto-rikshaws, people opt horse carts to enjoy the journey.
A devotee Ravi Kumar, native of Hyderabad, stated that getting chance to take a horse ride at a holy place like Yadagirigutta was considered as God's gift.
As many as 50 families in Yadagirigutta are dependent on horse carts to earn their livelihood; and about 250 families are getting benefitting indirectly through the carts. Horse carts run from local bus stand to Old Laxmi Narasimha Swamy temple.
Owners of the horse carts earning Rs 400 to 500 a day in busy and weekend days. However for the last few years, horse cart owners have been leading pitiable life with financial issues and other maintenance problems.
Rangaiah, a senior horse cart driver, said that he spends Rs 200 daily for feeding the horse to keep it fit for travelling. They do not earn single rupee on lean days; but get good earnings on Sundays and festive days. Autos are also hampering their income, he said.
Another horse cart owner Yadaiah said that horse carts have been running in Yadadgirigutta for the past six decades. Some years ago, the tongas were popular as they were transporting devotees from Rayagiri railway station to Yadagirigutta. The horse carts played significant role in making the shrine popular.
Expressing concern over the pathetic condition of families of horse carts, he said, so far, the governments did nothing for them in the 60 years of their existence.
Expressing pleasure over the recent sanctioning of hundreds of crores by State government for the development of Yadadri on the lines of Tirumala, Yadaiah and his colleagues urged Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao to sanction subsidised loans to purchase new horses, sanction 2 BHK houses and minimum income guarantee scheme to them.
