All set for Vemulawada Mahashivarathri jatara from February 28 to March 2

K M Dayashankar

Maha Shivarathri festival on March 1

Priority for adhering to Covid protocols 

RAJANNA-SIRCILLA:  The district authorities are making all arrangements for the smooth conduct of the ensuing three-day Maha Shivarathri jatara which would be held from February 28 to March 2 including the main festival of Maha Shivarathri on March 1 at the ancient and historic Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy devasthanam in Vemulawada of Rajanna-Sircilla district.

Following the outbreak of the pandemic virus, the district authorities have decided to accord priority to ensuring that each and every pilgrim and personnel deployed for various duties strictly adhere to the Covid norms. The officials have decided to ensure that the pilgrims wear facemasks and sanitise before entering the temple premises.

Accordingly, the jatara preparatory meeting was conducted in Vemulawada temple town on Saturday under the leadership of Collector Anurag Jayanthi. On this occasion, the Collector informed the medical and health officials to ensure that they deploy adequate thermal scanners to screen pilgrims for temperature, sanitisation of the devotees in the queue lines and ensure social distancing. He also informed them to make arrangements for the vaccination of the pilgrims at the temple town.

Directing the medical and health authorities to make all arrangements by deploying adequate staff to meet the demand of the pilgrims rush, he said that the panchayat raj authorities were informed to take up round the clock sanitation during the jatara period. The RTC authorities were informed to operate more special buses from various destinations for the benefit of the pilgrims. He also said that the RTC would operate free bus services from the RTC bus station to the temple town for the benefit of pilgrims during the jatara.

Informing the authorities to make all arrangements for the supply of drinking water in all locations including the parking of vehicles, he directed the authorities to construct additional temporary toilets and restore the old permanent toilets for the pilgrims. The electricity department was informed to take all measures to ensure uninterrupted power supply. The authorities were also directed to allocate separate parking lots for private vehicles.

Superintendent of Police BK Rahul Hedge said that they had planned to deploy additional police forces to ensure that the jatara was conducted smoothly without any untoward incident. He said that they would prioritize the regulation of the traffic at the temple town by deploying more police forces. Additional Collectors Bheemya Naik and Satya Prasad, EO Rama Devi, Vemulawada RDO Leela, DSP Chandrakanth and others were also present.

hindudayashankar