Rajarajeshwara Temple decked up for Maha Shivarathri fete

Rajeshwara Temple in the town, popularly known as Dakshin Kashi, is fully decked up for the Maha Shivarathri celebrations falling on Tuesday. The temple authorities have made elaborate arrangements to meet the tens of thousands of devotees who come here for the festival.

They are expecting about six lakh devotees, who offer calves and special prayers to the presiding deity. The TSRTC would run special buses to meet the huge rush as people from all parts of the state would be coming to Vemulawada for the festival. The private transport operators are also expected to make a lot of money during the festival.

The police have beefed up security at the temple and even CRPF personnel were pressed into service to prevent any untoward incidents. Besides, closed circuit surveillance cameras were installed near the temple. The committee members of the Devasthanam took steps to decorate the temple beautifully.

However, it may not be possible to provide accommodation to all the people. Barricades were set up in the temple to regulate the rush of devotees and it may take eight hours to take darshan in the temple on Tuesday.

The temple authorities also constructed 200 makeshift toilets for the pilgrims and provide drinking water and buttermilk to the people. Parking places were provided to them at six places. Medical facilities would also be provided as 15 doctors and 140 para-medical staff would be on duty to meet emergency services, if necessary, especially due to incidents of the outbreak of swine flu in recent times.