Rajahmundry: Devout take holy dip to mark Mahashivaratri

Rajahmundry: A large number of devotees thronged Shiva temples and offered special prayers. Some devotees took holy dip in Godavari river and performed rituals as part of the celebration of Mahashivaratri festivities with religious fervour in Godavari districts on Monday.

Since early in the morning, devotees were seen visiting temples and taking holy dip in the river. In Rajahmundry, bathing ghats like Kotilingala, Pushkar and others were filled to the capacity because of the large number of devotees arriving to perform rituals.

Although civic authorities made elaborate arrangements for supply of drinking water, lighting, dress changing rooms for women and temporary toilets, some of the devotees still complained about the trouble they had to face during the day.

Municipal commissioner Sumit Kumar Gandhi inspected the bathing ghats and issued necessary instructions to the civic staff with regard to maintenance of cleanliness and removing of the garbage at quick intervals and also to provide other services.

Master swimmers with boats were kept in a row just a few metres away from the ghats. They stood guard to the devotees as they were taking holy dip and performing rituals.

Later in the day, the municipal commissioner Sumit Kumar Gandhi appreciated the municipal officers and the staff for providing good services to the devotees.

Meanwhile, several devotees visited Lord Veerabhadra temple located on the Godavari island at Pattiseema in West Godavari and took darshan of the lord.

The West Godavari authorities made elaborate arrangements for the benefit of devotees to take hassle-free darshan and perform rituals. Given huge turnout of devotees, initially, there was some trouble, but it was overcome as the officials plunged into action and made arrangements accordingly in order to ease the situation.

When last reports came, devotees were arriving still to take darshan of the lord.

Meanwhile, several volunteers agencies served drinking water, buttermilk, biscuits and food to the devotees.