Vijayawada: A sea of devotees thronged Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam atop Indrakeeladri on Monday to have darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga Devi, who appeared in the divine form of Sri Saraswati Devi on the auspicious occasion of Moola Nakshatra. Pilgrims from both Telugu states and neighbouring states began arriving in Vijayawada from Sunday night itself to seek the blessings of the goddess.

With the rush far exceeding expectations, all the queue lines from Vinayaka Temple to Indrakeeladri were packed to capacity, forcing police to regulate devotees with ropes. Additional queue lines were arranged to manage the surge. Authorities opened the d arshan lines as early as 1:30 am, allowing devotees to have uninterrupted darshan throughout the day.

Devotees believe that worshipping Goddess Saraswati on Moola Nakshatra dispels ignorance, bestows wisdom, and lights the path of knowledge. From Moola Nakshatra until Vijayadashami, Sri Durgamma is adorned in various Alankarams, with the Saraswati Avataram considered especially sacred.

By 3 pm, around 1.3 lakh devotees had visited the temple, and by the end of the day, the count touched nearly 2 lakh. With VIP and protocol darshans cancelled, common devotees were able to have darshan within 2 to 4 hours. The temple authorities allowed devotees who were in the queue lines since Sunday midnight at 1.30 am onwards.

The entire city witnessed festive fervour, with heavy crowds at Pandit Nehru Bus Station, railway station, city bus stops, and approach roads. In view of the heavy rush, the Police, Revenue, Endowments, and Municipal authorities worked round-the-clock to ensure smooth darshan and maintain order.

NTR district collector Dr G Lakshmisha monitored arrangements from midnight and personally ensured temple entry protocols were strictly followed. NTR District Police Commissioner SV Rajasekhar Babu and Kanaka Durga Temple Executive Officer VK Seena Naik directed officials to be courteous with devotees while ensuring strict crowd control. Meanwhile, Municipal Commissioner HM Dhayanachandra supervised sanitation teams to maintain cleanliness across queue lines, ghats, and temple surroundings.

Since midnight, devotees arrived in large numbers, filling all the 32 compartments in the queue lines and holding areas. With the surge, rope parties were deployed to regulate the movement of devotees and ensure no inconvenience was caused along the stretch from Corpus Bridge to Gadda Bomma Centre.

NTR District Police Commissioner SV Rajasekhara Babu personally monitored the holding areas, queue lines, Corpus Bridge, and Gadda Bomma Centre from midnight. He issued instructions to the deployed officers and staff to maintain discipline, remain polite, and perform their duties with restraint. Speaking to devotees, he advised them to immediately use the QR code provided to them to report any inconvenience during darshan.

Later, the Commissioner also inspected the queue lines from Kummaripalem Centre to the Ammavari Temple, along with the holding areas established there, and issued further directions to officials to ensure smooth darshanfor devotees.