BHADRACHALAM : The temple town of Bhadrachalam has been decked up for the celestial wedding of Lord Rama and Sita on Thursday. According to authorities, Rs 1.20 crore has been spent on the arrangements for the event including illumination of the temple. Kalyanamandapam and its surroundings wore a festive look even as devotees started arriving here on Wednesday.
The district administration in coordination with the temple officials have made elaborate arrangements for about one lakh devotees expected to arrive here from across the country to witness Kalyanam and Puskara Pattabhisekham. Temple officials said that Kalyanam tickets sold out.
The Midhila stadium where celestial wedding of Lord Ram and Sita will be performed has been decorated with flowers. The Kalyanamandapam which has a capacity to accommodate 32,000 people has been divided into 22 compartments with barricades. There are eight entry points for devotees to enter the Kalynamandapam.
The officials have set up 70 ‘talambralu’ distribution centres and 19 prasadam counters in the town. An additional two lakh laddus have been prepared for distribution among the devotees.To quench the thirst of the people visiting the temple, three lakh drinking water and one lakh butter milk packets will be made available at the Kalyanamandapam. To enable the devotees to witness the celestial wedding, LED TVs have been installed in the Kalyanamandapam.
About 300 temporary bathrooms and lavatories have been set up at the bathing ghat and the temple. To maintain cleanliness at the temple, four mobile sanitation vehicles are kept ready.
TSRTC regional manager SR Prubhulatha said that about 400 buses are being operated from Wednesday from Hyderabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and other parts of erstwhile Khammam district to Bhadrachalam. APSRTC is also operating about 150 buses from all important towns in Andhra Pradesh to Bhadrachalam.
CM visit not confirmed
Meanwhile, 2,000 police personnel have been deployed for security at the temple and across the town.
According to officials, the visit of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has not been confirmed.
Endowments Minister Indrakaran Reddy who is camping here will present silk clothes and ‘talambralu’ to the deities on behalf of the State government. Bhadrachalam town has been divided into 13 sectors for bandobast purposes, said ASP Paritosh Pankaj.