RAJANNA-SIRCILLA: District administration is gearing up to organise Maha Sivaratri Jatara on a grand scale at the historical Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy temple in Vemulawada. Being the first Sivaratri after the reorganisation of the district, the administration is leaving no stone unturned to make it a grand success. District Collector D Krishna Bhasker and MLA Ch Ramesh Babu camped in Vemulawada for the last five days to supervise the arrangements for ensuring all the required facilities for visiting pilgrims.
In view of IT Minister KT Rama Rao taking special interest on the conduct of Maha Sivaratri Jatara scheduled to be held from February 23 to 25, the authorities of endowments, cultural and local Nagara panchyat are working hard to make arrangements.
The district administration and temple authorities have jointly developed an Android application to provide information to devotees about the facilities, requirements and other useful information.
The temple tank is being renovated under Mission Kakatiya in 35 acres and special non-stop cultural programmes will be conducted. Shamiyanas will be erected on open space for devotees.
Taking previous experience to avoid untoward incidents, VIP darshan tickets have been restricted. Town people will be allowed for two hours. Siva Deeksha devotees will have a separate queue. Sircilla and Vemulawada are being decorated with illuminating lights and festoons. All the temples in the district will be decorated.
Police is taking steps to streamline traffic movement in the town during the festival. The temple is expecting over 3 lakh devotees during the three-day festival.
MLA Ch Ramesh Babu said a documentary film is made on Sivaratri Vaibhavam to describe the significance of Vemulawada temple history, which will be screened in theatres and TV channels two days ahead of the occasion.