20 lakh devotees take holy dip

Nizamabad: Devotees turned out in large numbers at various pushkar ghats in Nizamabad and Adilabad district. An estimate of 20 lakh devotees took holy dip in the river Godavari at major Ghats like Kandukurti, Pochampadu, Tadpakal, Basar, Soan of two districts.

With such a gigantic turn out of devotees, huge traffic was created. In Nizamabad district, a heavy traffic jam occurred on the National Highway No. 43 from Bhiknoor to Ditchpally for about four kilometres. In Adilabad district also devotees faced traffic problems as the traffic got jammed in Nizamabad-Basar route.

Vehicles queued up from Jankampet of Nizamabad district to Basar of Adilabad district making it nearly two kilometre long. The reasons for such huge turnout of devotees were credited to continuous holidays for three days which were Bandh, Ramzan and Sunday.

The darshan at temples took five to six hours. Especially in Basara, it took nearly six hours for darshan at the temple and other places it took around two to three hours In Nizamabad district nearly nine lakh devotees visited the Pochampadu, Kandukurti, Tadpakal and Tungini Ghats and the remaining one to two lakh devotees visited the other Ghats of Nizamabad district and took holy dip.

Nearly four lakh devotees visited the temple town Basar. Around 4-5 lakh devotees took bath at Soan, Guden and Manchiryal Ghats of Adilabad district. Ministers Pocharam Srinivas Reddy, Jogu Ramanna and Indrakaran Reddy continuously reviewed the situation at various temples and Ghats in the two districts.

Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy visited the Kandukurti Ghats of Nizamabad district. On the other side, Forest Minister Jogu Ramanna and Endowment Minister Indrakaran Reddy visited the Basar Ghats and Lord Saraswathi temple and discussed with district level officials to regulate traffic at Ghats and temples.