Medaram Jatara: No govt plan yet

This biennial fair will be the first one after formation of Telangana

Warangal: With just four-and-a-half-months left for the start of world’s biggest tribal fair Sammakka-Sarakka also known as Medaram jatara, the State government, which announced that the fair would surpass the grandeur of recently-concluded Godavari Maha Pushkaralu, is yet to get its act together to get along with its promise. Incidentally, this carnival is the first one after the State bifurcation.

Although the administration had claimed that 2014 biennial fair was incident-free, the nightmare traffic jam experience on the Warangal-Medaram highway in a stretch as long as 40km for over 12 hours is still afresh in the minds of devotees. Besides this, the chaotic queues for the darshan of deities Sammakka-Sarakka and the inadequate basic amenities left devotees much to be desired.

The carnival, which attracts at least one crore people, happens once in every two years has a huge fanfare since the times of Kakatiya dynasty some eight centuries ago.

A mini jatara is also held here in between the biennial event. Despite this, all the arrangements here that cost crores of rupees to the exchequer are of make-do. The successive governments never made an attempt to provide facilities for the devotees on a permanent basis. It’s apparent that these makeshift arrangements are more useful to the contractors than to that of devotees.

Although there’s an imperative need for constituting the nine-member Trust Board Committee, which plays a critical role in the conduct of the fair, the government appears to be dillydallying over the issue. It may be mentioned here that the previous Congress government had conducted 2014 fair without constituting a committee.

“With not much time left for the forthcoming event that starts on February 17, 2016, the government should announce the committee with immediate effect,” Siddaboina Lakshman Rao, one of the jatara’s priest, said, explaining the importance of the committee in running the festival.

He said that they had already sent representations to the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao urging him not to allow non-tribal community people in the committee. Tudum Debba state politburo co-chairman Siddaboina Lakshminarayana demanded that no official with footwear should allowed to the Gadde, the sanctum sanctorum of the fair.

Stating that government was taking the event prestigiously, Mahabubabad MP Ajmeera Seetaram Naik told The Hans India, “Efforts are on to constitute the Trust Board. All the arrangements will be in place by December-end.”

Playing down the controversy over the start of the fair which usually begins with the Superintendent of Police of the district firing a shot into the air, the MP said that every step will be taken to protect the customs and traditions of the Adivasis.

Earlier, it was reported that the MP was against the custom of starting the fair with SP firing in the air. Former Trust Board chairman Alam Rammurthy said that unless the administration comes up with the expansion of Tadwai-Medaram, Bhupalpally-Medaram and Eturu-Kondai-Medaram roads, the traffic chaos are certain to repeat as it happened in the previous events.

By:Adepu Mahender