Indrakeeladri gears up for Dasara festival

Vijayawada, Sept 17 :

 Officials of Sri Durga Malleswara Swamivarla Devasthanam atop Indrakeeladri are running against time to put in place all arrangements for the nine-day Dasara festival, which is expected to attract about 10 lakh pilgrims, scheduled to begin on Saturday.

Executive Engineer of the Devasthanam, K V S R Koteswara Rao, talking to TNN over phone on Thursday said that waterproof shamiyanas would be erected from Vinayaka temple on Canal road to the temple atop the hillock in the wake of possibility of weather turning inclement.

The temple authorities ordered coir mattresses for using as carpets beneath the shamiyanas, he pointed out.Barricading work was completed to control the rush of pilgrims, he added.

He said that the widening of Arjuna Veedhi, which was taken up by the civic authorities, was in progress. The construction of a permanent structure at Kanakadurga Nagar was completed, where counters to sell prasadam were arranged, he added. He said the temple authorities are giving more importance to illumination this year and the work is being monitored by technicians from Draksharamam in East Godavari district. A huge welcome arch of the height of Rajagopuram has been arranged next to the highway, he added. He further said that the officials are planning to complete the illumination by Thursday evening including illumination at bathing ghats and ghat road too.