Vijayawada: Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivasa Rao conducts coordination committee meet

Vijayawada: Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivasa Rao said that Dasara festival, Navaratri, to be celebrated from October 7 to 15, will be conducted in coordination with all departments to avoid inconvenience to the devotees, at coordination committee meeting at the Municipal Corporation council hall here on Thursday.

Apart from the Endowments department officials, the officials of various departments attended the meeting along with District Collector J Nivas, Endowment commissioner Vani Mohan, Central MLA Malladi Vishnu.

Addressing the officials, the minister said that the arrangements should be made for the devotees keeping in view of Covid guidelines. However, only 10,000 devotees will be allowed per day to for the darshan including free darshan for 4,000 and 3,000 devotees each on Rs 100 and Rs 300 tickets. He appealed to the devotees to book tickets online. So far only 600 devotees booked tickets.

Referring to the Bhavani Deeksha, the minister said that there was no permission for relinquishing of Deeksha this year. The minister instructed Endowment commissioner Vani Mohan to write a letter regarding this to all the district collectors. Executive officer Bhramaramba was instructed to give wide publicity on the social media on the arrangements like parking facility, queue line, online ticketing and other issues.

The minister ruled out allowing people to take bath in River Krishna. However, water showers would be arranged on the banks of the river for the devotees to take bath.

District collector Nivas instructed the officials to appoint staff in three shifts to provide services to the devotees. He said that the municipal corporation and the Devastanam are arranging 230 bathrooms for the devotees. One hundred more sanitation workers will be taken in addition to the existing 160 staff.

Municipal commissioner Prasanna Venkatesh said that 650 staff would be pressed into service to help the devotees at Durga temple. He instructed the EO to procure 50,000 masks and every devotee visiting the temple should wear mask.

Vehicles would not be allowed atop the hill, he said adding that 15 vehicles would be pressed into service for the VIPs. The collector instructed the medical department to arrange medical camps at hilltop and at the foot of the hill. In view of the restrictions, the passes to the media should also be limited, he said.

Police commissioner B Srinivasulu underlined the importance of conducting rapid Covid tests to the police personnel. He appealed to the district collector to inspect the hill with the officials to prevent landslides in case of heavy rains.

Central MLA said that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy would present silk robes to the Goddess on the day of Moola Nakshatram.

EO Brahmaramba said that the three-line queue will become five-line at the 'Om' turning point and all the devotees would be checked with thermo scanners. Apart from drinking water supply to the devotees in queue lines, children would be served free milk, she said.

Devastanam chairman Pyla Somi Naidu, mayor Rayana Bhagyalakshmi, deputy mayors Bellam Durga and Avutu Sailaja Reddy, joint collectors Madhavi Lata and Mohan Kumar, officials of the Revenue, Irrigation, Fire services, Fisheries, Information, Roads and Buildings and others were present.

Earlier, the minister along with the officials and people's representatives walked from Vinayaka temple on the canal road to Indrakeeladri and worshipped Goddess Kanakadurga.