Navaratri fete to conclude with celestial boat ride at Vijayawada's Punnami Ghat

Marking the end of the 10-day-long Dasara festival, Teppotsavam, a celestial boat ride of goddess Kanaka Durga and Lord Malleswara Swamy (lord Shiva), will be conducted on Tuesday.
Vijayawada's Punnami Ghat (Photo |EPS)
Vijayawada's Punnami Ghat (Photo |EPS)

VIJAYAWADA: Marking the end of the 10-day-long Dasara festival, Teppotsavam, a celestial boat ride of goddess Kanaka Durga and Lord Malleswara Swamy (lord Shiva), will be conducted on Tuesday.

The engineering officials and other department officials concerned such as police and NDRF personnel conducted a trial run for the boat, designed in the shape of a swan, at Punnami Ghat on Monday evening.
Later in the day, Krishna district collector Md Imtiaz conducted a review meeting with all department officials and gave necessary instructions.

“The festival will conclude with the celestial boat ride. Officials from Director of Ports Kakinada have inspected the boat and gave necessary clearance such as structural competency certificate,” said Imtiaz.
He added that the irrigation officials had also given nod to the boat ride, explaining the water inflow from upstream would not create any obstructions.

“Experts and surveyors from the Port inspected the boat and water. Only after considering the permissions accorded, we told temple officials to go ahead,” the collector said. According to the temple officials, more than nine lakh devotees had visited the temple in the nine days so far, fetching a revenue of `2.5 crore through the sale of prasadam sales, VIP tickets and special poojas.

The officials have reportedly spent around `5 lakh for makeover works of the boat, fireworks and other arrangements. After the trial run, deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Ch Vijaya Rao told TNIE that the run was successful and completed without any glitches, also 400 police personnel will be deployed for the bandobast duties.

He further said that only 32 persons will be allowed aboard the boat and that the number of VIPs was reduced due to ongoing flyover works.“Along with the main boat, three additional boats will participate in the celestial ride. Four NDRF teams will be deployed along with the police,” Vijaya Rao said.

For the public watching the Swan boat ride, officials made arrangements at Punnami Ghat, Prakasam Barrage, Seetha Nagaram and Bhavani Ghat.“Lights and other works will be completed by the evening before the ride starts (at 6 pm) after some rituals,” temple EO MV Suresh Babu said.

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