8-hour Wait for Lord's Darshan at Bhadrachalam

BHADRACHALAM:The pushkar ghats at Bhadrachalam and seven other locations in Khammam district continued to attract pilgrims.

More than six lakh pilgrims visited the ghats on Sunday. The Mada and all the main streets in the temple town have been brimming with devotees ever since the Pushkarams began. Keeping the pilgrim rush in view, the temple administration has decided not to sell Rs 1000 and Rs 500 tickets that allow devotees special darshan to facilitate free darshan to all. It is taking 7 to 8 hours for darshan and there are serpentine queues near the temple.

Officials took steps to regulate traffic on Sunday. Due to huge traffic bottlenecks on Saturday, there was a big traffic jam in the town. On Sunday also, there was traffic jam at many places in the district. As part of precautionary measures, traffic police stopped vehicles in Khammam, Kothagudem and Sarapaka villages for some time. Thousands of private vehicles were stuck in the traffic. Meanwhile, 200 additional buses will be operating from all parts of the state to Bhadrachalam from Sunday to Wednesday. Minister for Roads and Buildings Tummala Nageswara Rao said more buses will be operated from parking places to Bhadrachalam from Sunday to Wednesday for the convenience of the pilgrims.

Minister for Commercial Taxes Talasani Srinivasa Yadav took the holy dip at Mothe pushkar ghat along with his family members and offered prayers in the temple. Meanwhile, G Shyamsunder (66), a resident of Kalyanadurgam in Ananthapuram district, died due to respiratory problems while in queue near the temple on Sunday. Another devotee, S Satyanarayana (38), hailing from Khammam, was swept away in the river while he was taking the holy dip near Aswapuram. Other than the two incidents, the Pushakrams in the district went off smoothly on Sunday.