Talakkad to get facelift, courtesy Siddaramaiah

Mysore: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah joined over three lakh devotees who descended on Talakkad, the former capital of the Ganga dynasty, for Panchalinga Darshan by offering prayers to Lord  Vaidyanatheswara on Monday.

“The auspicious occasion of Panchalinga Darshan is happening after the last Panchalinga Darshan in 2009. It has been a custom followed for several years to seek the blessings of Lord Shiva.

While a lakh people visited the shrine on December 1, on this day, as many as three to four lakh devotees are expected. Hence the district administration has made adequate arrangements to ensure that the devotees don’t face any inconvenience,” Siddaramaiah said.

He also quoted an anecdote and said that there is a belief that  Alamelamma  cursed Talakkad to become a  sand dune and so on.  Talakad has a spiritual  significance which was why he had come for the event despite the  legislature session at Belgaum.

He informed that there are plans to upgrade Talakkad to a tourist destination by the tourism department in co-ordination with department of Archaeology.

The queues were as long as 2 km.  4000 police were in place and as many as 50 CCTV cameras were installed for security.