KURNOOL: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy offered traditional sacred clothes and pasupu kumkuma to River Tungabhadra at Sankal Bagh Pushkar Ghat in Kurnool at 1:21 pm on Friday, marking the commencement of 12-day Tungabhadra Pushkarams. The river fete will conclude on December 1.
Attired in traditional dhoti and white shirt, and accompanied by priests, ministers and officials, the Chief Minister stepped into Tungabhadra waters and offered the sacred clothes and flowers to the River Goddess. He prayed for the well-being of the people of the State and its prosperity.
He sprinkled the sacred river water on his head on the occasion. Later, he performed Ganga puja by offering Ganga Harathi to the river and went to Yagnasala on the banks of Tungabhadra and took part in a homam performed marking the occasion. After taking blessings from Veda Pandits, the CM returned to Vijayawada by a special flight.
Earlier, he was accorded a warm welcome by Deputy Chief Minister (Minorities Welfare) Amzath Basha, ministers P Anil Kumar Yadav, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Vellampalli Srinivasa Rao, Gummanuru Jayaram and M Sankaranarayana, MPs, MLAs, MLCs, Endowments Secretary Girija Shakar, Endowments Special Commissioner Arjun Rao and Kurnool District Collector G Veerapandian at Orvakal airport.
Devotees are prevented from taking a holy dip in the river in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. As an alternative, a shower system has been arranged on the ghats along the river in the district. Expecting pilgrims from across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and Karnataka for the river fete, the government has made elaborate arrangements.
For performing Pinda Pradanam and other rituals on the banks of the river, a slot system has been introduced. Pilgrims can book their slots for performing the rituals on the official website https://tungabhadrapushakralu2020.ap.gov.in.
Arrangements have also been made for distribution of food and drinking water free of cost to devotees during Pushkarams. To ensure the smooth conduct of the 12-day river fete, 10,000 government officials, including 5,000 police personnel, and 2,000 buses, trucks and other vehicles have been deployed.
About 15,000 people participated in the river fete at 23 ghats in Kurnool district till 8 pm on the first day. The river fete commenced at Mantralayam with Sri Raghavendra Mutt head Sri Subudhendra Teertha Swamiji taking a holy dip in the river along with his disciples.
Allow devotees to take bath: Andhra Pradesh BJP chief Somu Veerraju
VIJAYAWADA: BJP State president Somu Veerraju appealed to the State government to allow devotees to bathe at the showers arranged for Tungabhadra Pushkarams. In a statement on Friday, he said that the government spent hundreds of crores of rupees for the river fete without a provision for the devotees to take a holy dip. "Instead of asking devotees to just sprinkle the water from the showers, the government should allow them to take a bath at the showers arranged," he said.
Rs 25.4 lakh for cultural events
VIJAYAWADA: The State government on Friday gave administrative sanction for Rs 25.4 lakh to organise cultural programmes from November 20 to December 1 to mark Tungabhadra Pushkarams. Special Chief Secretary (Tourism) Rajat Bhargava issued an order to this effect. The government sanctioned the amount responding to the request from the Chief Executive Officer of Andhra Pradesh State Creativity and Culture Commission.