7 days ago
Ahead of ‘Giri Pradakshina,' some temporary tents fall flat at Simhachalam
Visakhapatnam: Even as arrangements for the annual festival 'Giri Pradakshina' at Simhachalam are going on in full swing, some of the tents facilitated temporarily gave away on Saturday. In order to provide shelter to devotees arriving for the festival, the Devasthanam installed temporary tents with the support of iron poles. However, some of them gave away, resulting in the flattening of a few tents.
According to the temple officials, the incident happened while levelling the ground with an excavator. In the process, the vehicle got in contact with some of the poles, collapsing the tents erected with their support.
Recently, the Simhachalam Devasthanam engaged a contractor to install the tents for the festival. The exercise has been in progress for the past few days.
Lakhs of devotees are expected to take part in 'Giri Pradakshina' covering a 32-km stretch. Traditionally, the trek commences from 'Tholipavancha' downhill where people break coconuts, marking their onward journey. To provide convenience to those arriving at Tholipavancha, the temple authorities erected temporary tents. But, some of them gave away while installing as they came in contact with the excavator that was on the move. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident as people were not present at that point of time. For the past few days, the city has been witnessing rain. Every year, it rains during 'Giri Pradakshina.'
However, keeping the tents' collapse in view, the temple officials decided to get rid of all of them and take measures to ensure that the major festival is organised incident-free. This year, Giri Pradakshina is scheduled on July 9. As part of it, lakhs of devotees are expected to circumambulate the hill on 'Aashada pournami.' It may be recalled that a wall collapsed during 'Chandanotsavam', claiming seven lives.
