DEVOTIONAL FRENZY: Devotees on their way to Edupayala Vanadurga temple in Nagsanpalli, Medak, on Friday. — Photo: Mohd. Arif

Nagsanpalli (Medak): More than nine lakh devotees are expected at the Edupayala Vanadurga Bhavani temple here this year.

Within a year after the three-day Edupayala jatara was declared State festival, improved facilities and sufficient water in the Ghanpur anicut drew huge crowds on the first day of the jatara on Friday. Devotees who spend the weekend at the abode of Durga Bhavani have already pitched in makeshift tents on the hillocks surrounding the seven rivulets of Manjira in Papannapet mandal.

Water release

Anticipating heavy influx of devotees by the night the district administration, temple management and the Tourism Department have made elaborate arrangements. In addition to the six overhead tanks another 30 water tankers have been summoned to provide drinking water. For the traditional bath, 0.3 tmcs of Manjira water was released to the Ghanpur anicut. Even as 300 sanitation workers would be on the job round-the-clock, 30 permanent toilets and 170 temporary toilets have been constructed . Fifty expert swimmers and divers have been kept ready to attend to emergencies and wire meshes have been put up in deeper points of the Manjira.

Rs. 3.8 cr. plan

Elaborating on the development of the temple trust board chairman K. Narsimulu Goud told The Hindu that the State Government had announced a comprehensive development plant at a cost of Rs. 3.80 crores of which Rs. 70 lakhs had been already released. He said already work on the `Maha Mandapam' and `Akasa Gopuram' at the entrance of the temple had begun. The development work would be completed in three years.

A herbal garden, deer park, bio gas plant, VIP guesthouse, tonsuring hall, food courts, bus stand, eight cottages and four dormitories would be constructed under the plan.

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