VIJAYAWADA: With a few days left for Bhavani Deeksha Viramana (relinquishment) at Goddess Kanaka Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri, works are proceeding at a slow pace, causing inconvenience to devotees thronging the temple.
On Monday, the temple witnessed an unprecedented rush of devotees, a majority of whom faced a harrowing time to reach the hill shrine through Mallikarjuna Maha Mandapam. The Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy Varla Devasthanam officials had closed the Ghat road leading to Indrakeeladri hill to execute the works for Bhavani Deeksha Viramana from December 29 to January 2, 2019.
The temple authorities had made alternate arrangement for the devotees thronging the hill shrine through Mallikarjuna Maha Mandapam and instructed the staff to transport the devotees in power elevators to avoid inconvenience for them. However, the power elevators couldn’t manage to transport the unprecedented rush of devotees; many of them had to reach the hill shrine using the staircase.
“I have been visiting the Durga temple regularly to have a darshan of the Goddess Kanaka Durga. Instead of spending lavishly on making temporary arrangements, the devasthanam should accord top priority to make permanent arrangements in order to avoid inconvenience for the devotees,” U Subba Rao, a devotee from Kakinada, said.Meanwhile, the temple authorities claimed that works relating to Bhavani Deeksha Viramana will be completed within the stipulated time period.