Shakti Programme Buses are full, and so are the temples

Mangaluru/Udupi/Dharmasthala: The free travel facility for women in the state implemented by the Government of Karnataka has left the temples in the state full of women! Especially in Dakshina Kannada temples which are flooded by women from all parts of the state. On Saturday the time taken to get a Darshan in Udupi, Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya, Kolluru Mookambika, Kateel Durgaparameshwari, Hornadu Annapurneshwari ranged between 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours! That is equivalent to that of Tirupathi temples on a lean day!

According to KSRTC sources, over a hundred bus load of women from Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Koppal, Haveri, Chitradurga, Ballari, Davanagere and Shivamogga arrived in different parts of the coastal areas and visited temples. “Dharmasthala and Kukke Subramanya got maximum women visitors in Dakshina Kannada while Udupi Sri Krishna and Kollur Mookambika also got a big rush of women devotees. We even had to infuse more buses into service to these places. On Saturday and Sunday, we have put into service 65 more buses to Dharmasthala, 7 buses to Kukke Subramanya 4 buses to Horanadu, 25 buses to Mangaluru and 4 buses to Shringeri from Kempegowda Central Bus Terminus in Bengaluru. Connecting buses from Mangaluru towards Dharmasthala, Kukke Subramanya was also filled with women devotees, at a time the Mangaluru-Kateel KSRTC midi bus services got big demand on Sunday” say KSRTC officials.

As a result, all temples got a flood of women devotees. “All the temples on the coast right from Sirsi Kalikamba, Kollur Mookambika to Kateel Durgaparameshwari have Anna Prasadam (mass feeding) and every place was taken up by women devotees in the dining halls of the temples. Dharmasthala recorded a surge of 20,000 more devotees who had partaken in the mass feeding on Saturday and Sunday and tomorrow being a Monday we expect more” said a temple official in Dharmasthala”. However, we don't expect collection for the Hundi to go up in volumes -officials in these temples stated.

However, there are hardly any records of women from Dakshina Kannada and Udupi taking free rides to temples outside their districts. All temples except Sringeri Sharadamba temple had long queues in front of their gates. The temple authorities in Sringeri had expected this rush and prepared their kitchen for the rush and also placed security guards at the Thuga river ghat where devotees gather in large numbers.

KSRTC officials have wondered about the stamina of the women travellers on long-distance service who travel standing in a crowded vehicle from Bengaluru to Dharmasthala a distance of 246 kilometres! And they take the late evening buses back to Bengaluru or any other places of their origin.

The drivers had to be extra cautious while driving as the Registered laden weight of the vehicle goes for a toss as it is more than double in such conditions. The braking system, suspension and steering system take a heavy beating. Especially the effective braking distance increases to a few meters more due to the inertia which is a hazard.

On the operations side, there are not many relief buses available with the KSRTC to tide over the rush. According to officials, this is not a trend that will halt anytime soon, and the government must buy more vehicles if the free ride to women continues.