TS set to come alive with Bathukamma festivities

Hyderabad: State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar directed the officials to make elaborate arrangements for the ensuing Bathukamma festival in a grand manner.

The nine-day long Bathukamma festival will begin on September 25 and conclude on October 3. The last day of festival is celebrated as Saddula Bathukamma.

Presiding over a coordination meeting on the Bathukamma celebrations at BRKR Bhavan here on Monday, Somesh Kumar said that as large number of people will be participating in the festival, elaborate arrangements should be made in a befitting manner.

Officials were directed to illuminate important traffic junctions and buildings during the festival, provide better roads, barricading at immersion points, provision of uninterrupted power supply, organise cultural programmes, arrangement of swimmers near Hussain Sagar and at all the immersion points should also be put in place. All the metro pillars and inside metro trains should be decorated depicting Bathukamma festival. Wide publicity should be made through social media about the festival, said Somesh Kumar said.

For the main day of the festival this is Saddula Bathukamma, the Chief Secretary asked the officials to ensure provision of logistics like arrangement of small cranes for immersion of Bathukammas, illumination across the banks of Hussain Sagar, police security, traffic control and regulation, temporary toilets, distribution of butter milk sachets, arrangements of first aid facility, deployment of fire extinguishers and many more. The Saddula Bathukamma should also be organised in all the district headquarters, he added.

Advisor to government (Culture and Tourism) K V Ramana Chary, DGP M Mahender Reddy, Special Chief Secretary LET&F I Rani Kumudini, Special Chief Secretary MA&UD Arvind Kumar and others were present during the meeting.