Relinquishment of Bhavani Deekshas to start on December 25

VIJAYAWADA:  Minister for endowments Velampalli Srinivas Rao said that Bhavani Deeskhas would be concluded from December 25 to 29 and Durga temple making foolproof arrangements with the cooperation of all government departments. A meeting was conducted at Vijayawada on Tuesday about the Bhavani Deeksha Viramana programme. Addressing the officials, the minister said that all the department officials should coordinate and ensure that no inconvenience is caused to the devotees.

Minister Srinivas Rao said that during the relinquishment of Bhavani Deeksha, the devotees would do Giri Pradakshina (Circumambulation), Darsanam of Goddess Kanaka Durga and during Prasadam distribution to the devotees, arrangements should be planned with coordination and make it a success. He appealed to the officials to make arrangements strictly following Covid guidelines. Minister Srinivas Rao said that on December 18 at 6 pm Kalasajyothi procession will be taken out from Sivarama Kshetram in Satyanarayanapuram to Kanakadurga Nagar and tight arrangements shall be made for the procession.

Krishna District collector J Nivas said that four Homagundams have been arranged at the foot of the hill and the fire brigades will make special arrangements. He instructed officials to make special arrangements for women for changing clothes, water distribution to devotees in queue lines, special queue lines for senior citizens and the visually impaired. He said that Darshan timings will be announced well in advance, boats and expert swimmers will be deployed at Punnami ghat and special care will be taken to ensure uninterrupted power supply.

Durga Temple Trust Board chairman Pyla Somi Naidu said that during the six days all the Bhavani devotees will be given free darshan and darshan will begin from 3 am to 10.30 pm. Durga Temple EO D Bramarambha said that five queue lines will be arranged during the Bhavani devotees' relinquishment. For protocol darshan, Rs 300 token should be taken uphill and 15 lakh devotees are expected, she added.

MLA Malladi Vishnu, Vijayawada Mayor R Bhagyalakshmi, VMC commissioner V Prasanna Venkatesh, joint collectors Dr K Madhavilatha and K Mohan Kumar, sub-collector GSS Praveenchand DRO M Venkateswarlu and others were present in the meeting.