Ongole : The temples in the Prakasam district, especially noted Sivalayams witnessed a heavy rush on the Maha Sivaratri as thousands of devotees offered puja in them on Wednesday. The temples at Bhairavakona, Podili, Tripurantakam, Ongole, and other places were crowded with people seeking the blessings of the god.

In the early morning, the devotees and pilgrims reached Siva temples trying to grab a glimpse of the lord. The Ongole MLA Damacharla Janardhana Rao and his family visited the Rudraksha Sivalingam at the Saibaba Temple at Santhapet in Ongole. The noted and age-old Shiva temples including Nirmamaheswwara Swamy temple at Podili, Veerabhadra Swamy temple at Chinacumbam, Siva temple at Kanaka Surabheswara Kona at Akkapalle of Racharla mandal witnessed huge rush of the devotees. As the forest department issued permission, hundreds of devotees started trekking into Nallamala forest to reach the Gundla Brahmeswaram temple while those who could not walk on the rocky terrain reached in vehicles. Most of them returned to Diguvametta by the evening but only a few wanted to spend the night in the forest and stay back.

The temples in Tripuranthakam, Ramateertham, Sangameswaram, and other prominent pilgrim places in the district received thousands of devotees since morning and all temples echoed with Harahara Mahadeva and Sambho Sankara. The temple executive officers, trust board members, and philanthropic people offered food, water, and buttermilk to the devotees. The APSRTC Ongole depot ran 45 buses to Kotappakonda and 25 buses to Srisailam as special services while other depots also offer services to Bhairavakona, Ramateertham, Mogilicherla, Ponugodu, Kotappakonda, Sangameswaram and other places for the convenience of the devotees.