Swachh Pushkaralu wows pilgrims

Mahbubnagar: The cleaning mechanism in making Krishna Pushkaralu as one of the most ‘Swachh Pushkaralu’ in the history of Mahbubnagar is getting applause from all quarters. Never in the history of ‘Pushkaralu’ did any government conduct ‘Krishna Pushkaralu’ in such a systematic and planned manner by making all arrangements foolproof and giving the highest priority to cleanliness, safety, security and healthcare of the visiting devotees at the ghats. More than 3,000 safai karmacharis and volunteers from various organisations have been deployed across all the 52 ghats in Mahbubnagar district.

Sweepers, and other cleaning workers who are working 24/7 at the ghats are paid a daily wage of Rs 300, while those deployed by the NGOs and other volunteers are delivering free service. “We are in all 200 people come from our village to work here as cleaners and sweepers.

I feel cleaning and putting the ghats neat without any garbage or waste is a great service to humanity and it gives me immense satisfaction to serve the devotees at pushkara ghats,” says Nageshwari from Udandapur village of Itikyala mandal who is working as a sweeper at the Beechupally Ghat.

Each sweeper and water cleaner is paid Rs 300 per day for 12 days. “Pushkara bath means a great opportunity to relieve our sins and it comes only once in 12 years. We don’t know whether we will be there for the next pushkaralu or not.

Therefore, I feel this is a great opportunity to get solace in our life. And more over, serving as a worker for the devotees by cleaning the ghats is much more a virtuous thing,” observed Hanmanthu of Krishna village at Krishna Ghat who has been employed to as a swimmer to save and guide the devotees during the Pushkaralu.

The district administration, apart from volunteers, has deployed more than 1,000 swimmers and a team of 45 NDRF personnel as part of safety measures. In addition to this, more than 6,720 police personnel are deployed to ensure foolproof security and crowd management during heavy rush.

Guv lauds administration Governor ESL Narasimhan, who visited Jogulamba Ghat in Alampur for a holy dip in Krishna river as part of Krishna Pushkaralu, praised the team work of the district administration, Revenue, Police and leaders for making foolproof arrangements for the safety, security and healthcare of devotees and making Krishna pushkaralu a grand success.

On the ninth day of Krishna Pushkaralu, the Governor, along with his wife, visited Jogulamba Ghat and took holy dip in Krishna River on Saturday. Later, the Governor offered special prayers at Balabrahmeshwara and Jogulamba Devi temples at Alampur.

Working together will bring great success and it is proven here by the Mahbubnagar district administration where the Police, Revenue and political leaders worked as a team to make Krishna Pushkaralu a great success,” he said.