VIJAYAWADA: With Vijayawada emerging as part of the state capital, the authorities of Sri Durga Malleswara Swamivarla Devasthanam and the district administration want to celebrate Dasara this time on a grand scale.
Already, a sense of deja vu is pervading the city with the chief minister having announced that the foundation-stone for construction of the capital city for the state will be laid on the Vijaya Dasami Day on October 22. The nine-day festival will begin on October 13.
But this year also is bringing a challenge since the government has taken up the construction of a flyover at Durga Temple to ease traffic congestion. For instance, the VIPs too would visit the temple during the appointed hours and they cannot just vroom to the top of the hill just the way they were doing earlier and just walk to the sanctum sanctorum.
The state-level Dasara festivities would be held in Vijayawada as it has been upgraded as part of the state capital.
At a meeting held to review preparations for Dasara celebrations with temple and civic authorities, collector Babu A stressed the need for a better coordination so that devotees would not face any difficulty. As it is estimated that at least one crore people would be visiting Vijayawada for darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga, there should not be any lapse in the supply of drinking water, maintenance of sanitation and so on.
The meeting discussed arrangements at the bathing ghats on Krishna river bank, darshan timings and setting up of queue lines and managing the crowd. It was also necessary to set up medical camps at the queue lines so that help would be readily available in case anyone fell sick or anything untoward happens.