Lord fails to get his due

Bhadrachalam (Khammam): Though lodging houses and hotels did a roaring business during the 12-day Pushakaralu festival, the hopes of the managers of the Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple reaping good revenue did not materialise. Expecting a huge inflow of pilgrims during the mega event, the temple authorities had even introduced online booking for Seeghra Dasrhan and Arjitha Sevas during the Pushkaralu.

The authorities made available as many as 15,000 tickets of Seeghra Darshan and 800 tickets each of Nitya Kalyanam, Sahasra Namarchana and Unjal Seva per day for the online booking. According to the official estimate, over 45 lakh pilgrims had thronged the nine Pushkar ghats in Khammam district. Of which, about 28 lakh devotees converged on the main Bridge Point Pushkar ghat, abutting Lord Sri Rama’s temple in temple town.

While another 4.50 lakh turned up at Mothey ghat, and the Parnasala temple ghat witnessed a steady stream of devotees totalling nearly 3 lakh. With no adequate space around the Lord Sri Rama’s temple, it became a herculean task for the authorities to provide darshan facilities to most of the pilgrims. Moreover, the authorities discouraged the pilgrims saying not to wait for the darshan as it would take six to 10 hours.

As a result, devotees had to return to their home without offering prayers to the Lord. The sale of tickets for Seeghra Darshan and other Arjitha sevas too were discontinued following the directions from the government. Even the Laddu prasadm counter too was closed to see that there was no gathering of people in a large number.

According to sources, the temple had lost at least Rs 5 crore revenue during the Pushkaralu. However, the temple authorities have kept their fingers crossed on Hundi offerings. “The counting of Hundi collection will take place on July 28 and 29,” the Temple Assistant Executive Officer Sravan said.

With Bhadrachalam having a limited accommodation facility, and a good part of it being occupied by the government officials on Pushkar duty, the pilgrims had a tough time getting rooms for overnight stay. It may be mentioned here that the temple has only 27 cottages and four choultries of 140 rooms.

Taking advantage of it, the managements of lodging houses had introduced 12-hour check-out system, besides jacking up the prices to as high as Rs 3,000. The hotels too fleeced the devotees serving limited menu.

By Adepu Mahender