Uncertainty looms over Tungabhadra Pushkaralu

Hyderabad: The Telangana government which had taken up Krishna and Godavari Pushkaralu on a grand scale in the past is in a state of indecisiveness in regard to the scale in which it should organise Tungabhadra Pushkaralu in view of corona pandemic.

The Puskharalu or Pushkar means festival of rivers which occurs once in 12 years and the government usually makes arrangements months before the scheduled date but this time the officials are yet to call for tenders even for the construction of ghats at the banks of the river. The Tungabhadra Pushkaralu is slated to start from November 20, the day of entry of Jupiter into Makara Rashi and ends on December 2.

According to the officials, river Tungabhadra is a tributary of Krishna river. It originates from Karnataka with two rivers Tunga and Bhadra meet hence the name is Tungabhadra. The river flows into Telangana from Gadwal and passes through the famous Shakti Peeth Jogulamba temple and joins Krishna river at Gondimalla near Alampur. Last time the Tungabhadra Pushkaralu was organized during 2008 in YS Rajasekhara Reddy's government which allocated nearly Rs 5 crore for the festival and there was a huge rush of pilgrims everyday during the 12-day fete.

A senior official told The Hans India that the government has held review meetings on Tungabhadra Pushkaralu for a couple of times and sought estimates from the district officials. This was during the month of January but there was no progress since then because of corona pandemic. The official said that the district officials had sent proposals with Rs 6.5 crore for the construction of ghats, road works and other basic amenities at four locations, including at Jogulamba temple, which attracts pilgrims in large numbers.

There was no response from the Endowments department to the proposals. The district officials are waiting for the government orders on moving forward.

The official said that it would depend on Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao on whether to have large-scale arrangements or simple. However, the official opined that in all probability it would be a low-key affair in view of corona pandemic. The government may decide to keep the Pushkaralu simple by taking up rituals by the priests and restricting the bathing at Pushkar ghats, the official said.