Bathukamma revives Telangana culture: KCR

*Festival celebrated by women to kick-start today
*It will culminate on Oct 2, two days before Dasara

• Procession from LB Stadium to Tank Bund on last day
• Govt declares it as State festival and to spend `10 cr
• 15-day holiday for Dasara-Bathukamma; Sankranthi holidays to be cut
• KCR releases poster on Bathukamma
• GHMC makes elaborate arrangements along Tank Bund and procession route

Hyderabad: The Bathukamma festival, which Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao calls it as revival of Telangana culture, will be inaugurated in the Hyderabad Collectorate complex at 3.30 pm on Wednesday with all district officers, especially women, taking part. The festivities would culminate on October 2 with a procession from L B Stadium to Tank Bund. About 30,000 women from all the 10 districts are expected to participate in the procession. The Chief Minister said the festival should be observed as the revival of the culture and traditions of Telangana which were neglected by the previous governments in undivided Andhra Pradesh. Rao released the poster on Bathukamma festival, created by the women employees of Telangana secretariat on Tuesday. “The previous regimes discriminated us in giving holidays and ignored all the Telangana festivals. Now the government will have a separate calendar for holidays,’’ Rao said. A 15-day holiday should be declared for Dasara and Bathukamma, and Sankranthi holidays should be reduced, the Chief Minister ordered while reviewing the arrangements for the festival.

Celebrations would be held at all government offices. Mukesh Kumar Meena, Hyderabad District Collector, appealed to all the women staff to actively take part in the celebrations. Right from the education department, social welfare department, health department and other wings of the government would be marking Bathukamma celebrations leading to the grand finale on October 2.

The Telangana government has sanctioned Rs 10 crore and declared Bathukamma as a state festival. The Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation has made elaborate arrangements along the Tank Bund and a ghat is being planned permanently at Rotary Park which will be a permanent feature for women to perform rituals. The GHMC has identified 18 lakes under its jurisdiction for sprucing them up for the occasion. The city would be decked up with large size Bathukammas at all main road crossings. Special hoardings and welcome arches have already been placed at strategic locations in the city.

A senior GHMC official said that special sanitation teams would be on the job 24X7 to keep the city clean. As part of the preparations, landscaping at L B stadium, change of the playground equipment at Rotary Park and renovation, floral decoration and erection of fountains on Tank Bund are planned.

The GHMC is spending close to Rs 52 lakh on construction of Bathukamma ghat, repairs to the fountain at Rotary Park, painting and repairs to toilets at Tank Bund and repairs to footpath from L B stadium to Tank Bund.