MEDARAM (WARANGAL DT): Fearing heavy rush and hardship at the next Sammakka Sarakka jatara in the coming year, people in large numbers gathered at the holy altar here.

A heavy rush of devotees was witnessed for the third consecutive day on

Friday. The official jatara convenes once in two years, but the tribals pay obeisance annually to the deities on `Magha Purnima' day. Some of them come from the neighbouring Chattisgarh State too.

However, even during this `non-jatara' year, people were making a beeline only to abstain from coming during the official jatara time, which is invariably too crowded to allow anyone to reach up to the altar. Going by the rush at the mini jatara, the locals say it has been assuming the proportion of the official jatara.

Those thronging the place during the past couple of days were facing the worst possible situations like lack of drinking water and proper sanitation. Since it was not declared as an official jatara, no overseeing authority was in place to regulate things. Devotees were coming on their own and petty traders put up shops all over the place in the village.

Dry rivulet

"There is no water in Jampanna vagu to take a bath. Why can't the officials release water for the devotees coming now," posed Shyam, a native of Warangal town.

Speaking to The Hindu , the Sammaka Sarakka temple chairman Rega Narasaiah said keeping the rush in view, the Endowments Department made some arrangements such as drinking water and sanitation.

The Sammakka Sarakka jatara was being celebrated by the tribals since time immemorial. And with every passing year, the rush of devotees had been growing and according to officials, a close to 20 lakh people attend the jatara.

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