KURNOOL: District Collector S Satyanarayana ordered the officials concerned to ensure all facilities to the devotees visiting Srisailam for Maha Shivaratri on Tuesday. He along with SP Gopinath Jatti and Srisailam temple Executive Officer N Bharat Gupta, held a review meeting with the district officials at Srisailam Administrative Building on Monday on the arrangements for Shivaratri. Speaking on the occasion, the Collector asked the officials to ensure that the devotees do not face any problems after reaching Srisailam. He underlined the need for making all arrangements on the temple premises to ensure that the pilgrims do not face any inconvenience.
He also directed the District Medical and Health Officer to set up a temporary medical camp with 30 beds and provide emergency medication to the pedestrian pilgrims in case of necessary. He said that devotees are visiting Srisailam from neighbouring States and across AP.
He asked the RTC Regional Manager to run adequate number of buses to Srisailam from different parts of the district for the convenience of pilgrims. The SP said that more than 2,000 police personnel were deployed at Srisailam for Shivaratri to thwart any untoward incident during the annual temple festival.
A combined control room was set up to regularise the vehicular traffic and the pilgrim flow. The police are also keeping a tight vigil to prevent incidents of missing children in the pilgrim crowd. “The security at the pilgrim shrine is being monitored with the help of Closed Circuit TV cameras and drones,” the SP said.
Celestial wedding
Srisaila Devasthanam has made all arrangements to conduct Kalyanotsavam of Lord Mallikarjuna Swamy and Goddess Bhramaramba Devi on the occasion of Maha Shivaratri. Nandi Vahana Seva for the presiding deities will be held at 7 pm on Tuesday. Lingodbhava Rudrabhishekam and Pagalankarana will be performed at 10 pm. Kalyanotsavam will be organised at midnight on a grand note as per the tradition, Srisailam temple EO Bharat Gupta said. About 10 lakh devotees have arrived at Srisailam shrine to do Shivaratri Jagarana.