Warangal: The newly-formed Congress government is keen to conduct Asia’s biggest biennial tribal fair ‘Sammakka and Saralamma’ Jatara a grand manner by making elaborate arrangements at Medaram in the Mulugu district.
The jatara, which will be held from February 21 to 24, is expected to witness around 1.5 crores of devotees from not only all corners of the Telangana state but also from the neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh.
The state government has sanctioned '75 crores for the tribal carnival after the district administration sent the proposal for taking up some permanent works and providing basic facilities for the convenience of the devotees.
After estimating the works at the shrine, the district administration allotted Rs 2.80 crores to R & B department, Rs 12.19 crore to Panchayat Raj, Rs .6.11 crores to water supply, Rs 8.28 to the engineering department, Rs 14.74 crores to rural water supply department, Rs 4 crore to ITDA, Rs 1.92 crores to tribal welfare department, Rs 50 lakh to district public relation department, Rs 1 crore to district medical and health, Rs 10.50 to police, Rs 5.25 crore to revenue, Rs 1.5 crores to endowments, Rs 3.96 crore for electricity and Rs 2.25 crore to transport department.
The recent heavy rains had flooded the Sammakka and Saralamma temple premises at Medaram and its surrounding villages including Reddygudem, Urrattam and Kothur as Jampanna Vagu was in spate. Also damaged were the Kalyana Kattas built across Jampanna Vagu, Sulabh complexes and interlinking roads leading to the temple and electricity poles.
Since the Congress government is going to conduct Medaram jatara for the first time after forming its government in Telangana, Panchayat raj minister and Mulugu MLA Seethakka and endowments minister Warangal East MLA Konda Surekha held a review meeting recently with the officials of various departments for the smooth conduct of four-day jatara.
Meanwhile, the TSRTC is planning to arrange special bus services to Medaram from various parts of the state. J. Srilatha, the regional manager of Warangal region, already announced special services from Hanamkonda bus station on every Wednesday and Sunday for every 45 minutes from December 17 for devotees to avoid heavy rush during the peak days of the jatara.
