Visakhapatnam: Minister for Endowments Kottu Satyanarayana said around two lakh devotees had ‘nijarupa darshanam’ of the presiding deity of the Lakshmivaraha Nrusimha Murthy temple at Simhachalam on the occasion of Chandanotsavam held on Sunday.
The minister, who was seen supervising the arrangements, told the reporters that the devotees were satisfied with the facilities at the shrine made by the district administration.
Expecting a good turnout, the administration began arrangements a month in advance and the collector, commissioner of police, endowments commissioner and other officials had a series of meetings. Officials were allotted responsibilities to avoid last-minute confusion and everything went as per the plan, the minister said.
Explaining the reasons for traffic hold-ups, the minister said a vehicle broke down on the ghat road resulting in the jam.
“Since the day happened to be a Sunday, the turnout of devotees was heavy,’’ the minister said.
All the devotees started arriving to the temple almost at the same time clogging the area.
Endowment commissioner S Satyanarayana, festival OSD Mohammed Azad and executive officer of the temple K Trinadha Rao were present.
