Over 23 lakh took holy dip during Saraswati Pushkaralu
Hyderabad: Over 23 lakh people had a sacred bath during the Saraswati Pushkaralu, which ended on Monday at Kaleshwaram in Bhupalpally disrtict. More than one lakh people had a bath at the Triveni Sangam in Kaleshwaram on each of the 12 days with pilgrim rush peaking during the weekends. Endowment department officials and others heaved a sigh of relief as the event passed off without any untoward incident.
The state government had put in place massive arrangements to ensure the success of the Pushkaralu. To bring it on par with the Kumbh Mela, the government allocated Rs 35 crore exclusively for the event. Incidentally, a team of officials, led by Secretary Shailaja Ramaiyar, had visited Prayagraj for a first-hand feel of the arrangements.
This helped the state administration to come up with a meticulous planning, said a senior official from the endowments department.
The official said that Pushkaralu started on a grand note with around one lakh taking a bath on the first day on May 15. The rush of pilgrims increased thereafter with the weekends drawing two to 3.5 lakh people. There was a traffic jam of over 20 km on the weekends.
The official said that the Harati program on the banks of the river was a major attraction during the Pushkaralu.
Artists from Kashi were specifically roped in for the Harati program, which was watched by around 47,000, including Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy.
Meanwhile, the pilgrims also visited the Sri Kaleshwara Mukteswara Swamy temple.
Approximately, 2.68 lakh laddus were distributed by the temple authorities, who also arranged for medical camps, which was taken advantage of by around 80, 000 people.
The official informed that among the other works, sanitation and hygiene were given priority. Over 950 sanitation workers were deployed for cleaning the premises near the river, while about 33 NDRF and 66 SDRF personnel, 100 swimmers and 35 Singareni rescue team personnel were also deployed at the bathing ghats to prevent instances of drowning. Also manning the area were around 1600 police personnel.
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