Hyderabad: The government is embarking on holding another major religious congregation, the Saraswati Pushkaralu at Kaleshwaram, a temple town on the border of Telangana and Maharashtra.
The town is popularly known for its ancient Kaleshwara Mukteswara Swamy temple, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva.
It is believed that the river Saraswati flows beneath the Godavari and the Pranahita, and the confluence of these three rivers is called the Triveni Sangamam. The Saraswati Pushkaralu will take place in early 2025, and the date will be finalised by pandits.
Endowments minister Konda Surekha has started review meetings with officials from different departments as the pushkaralu, which is celebrated once in 12 years, is expected to attract lakhs of devotees from Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh besides Telangana.
During a review meeting on Friday, Surekha directed officials to construct pucca bathing ghats, pandals, changing rooms, rest rooms and provide temporary shelters, camps for accommodation of pilgrims. She also asked the authorities to launch special drives to clean the river and its banks before the event.
On the pilgrim management, Surekha asked the law enforcing agencies to make plans for crowd control at designated entry and exit points to avoid overcrowding. She asked the officials to conduct spiritual programmes, cultural events and religious discourses by spiritual leaders on all the 12 days of pushkaralu.
Giving emphasis on sanitation, Surekha asked the municipal staff to provide clean drinking water points, clean the environments of the temple and river on a regular basis. She underlined the need for perfect coordination with various departments like tourism, health, police, water resources, municipal and transport to ensure smooth execution.
Shailaja Ramayyar, principal secretary (endowments), Prakash Reddy, the managing director of Telangana Tourism Development Corporation, Rahul Sharma, the district collector of Jaishankar Bhoopalapally, Kiran, superintendent of police, Krishnaveni, additional commissioner (endowment), Sunitha, assistant commissioner (endowments), Maruthi, EO of Kaleshwaram Temple and others took part in the review meeting.
