The Hindu : Religious fervour marks Mahasivaratri

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Feb 19, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Others

Religious fervour marks Mahasivaratri

By Our Staff Reporter

ADILABAD, FEB. 18. Religious fervour and gaiety marked the Sivaratri celebrations in the temple town of Basar in Mudhole mandal on Wednesday, with a heavy rush of pilgrims to take the holy dip in the Godavari.

The celebrations began in the early hours of today with the `abhishekam' followed by decoration of the presiding deity and offering of `harathi.' Anticipating heavy rush, the temple authorities decided to allow the general darshan for the pilgrims from 5.30 a.m. itself instead of the normal darshan timings of 7.30 a.m.

The Gnana Saraswati temple Special Officer, T.Prabhakar Rao, speaking to The Hindu on phone from Basar, said that so far 50,000 pilgrims from Nirmal division, neighbouring Maharashtra and Nizamabad districts were thronging the bathing ghats and taking a dip. Elaborate arrangements had been made for the hassle-free darshan of pilgrims at the temple. There were long queues of pilgrims waiting for darshan. The pilgrims were able to have darshan within 30 minutes, Mr. Prabhakar Rao, said adding that tickets in the denomination of Rs. 20 were sold for those intending to have special darshan.

The Special Officer, said that additional police force was deployed at the temple and the bathing ghats.

Para-medical staff and fire service personnel were present to meet any eventuality. The RTC operated special buses from Hyderabad, Nizamabad, Nirmal and other nearby areas. The APSRTC Regional Manager of Adilabad deputed senior officials to coordinate and monitor the smooth flow of traffic.

KARIMNAGAR: Mahasivaratri was celebrated in Vemulawada, Kaleshwaram and other Siva temples with religious fervour and gaiety.

Thousands of pilgrims thronged the Vemulawada temple since morning and offered prayers.

The devotees took a holy dip in the `dharmagundam' (tank) before entering the temple. Serpentine queues were witnessed devotees rushed to have darshan.

The police had made elaborate security arrangements. Voluntary organisations and NSS volunteers were seen helping pilgrims by distributing drinking water packets at the queue complex.

The Joint Collector, M. Dana Kishore, is camping in Vemulawada overseeing the arrangements.

The police have opened a control room to provide necessary information to pilgrims.

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