Long trek up the hill for darshan test faith
Kanakadurga temple. (Photo: DC/File)
VIJAYAWADA: With the increase in day temperature during the past 10 days, devotees visiting the Kanakadurga temple are literally feeling the heat. The devotees are forced to wait in queues stretching over 2 km to reach the sanctum sanctorum for darshan.
The day temperature hovered at around 34 0C on Monday, and this ensured that the devotees, especially the elderly, suffer as they walked barefoot to the temple. The high humidity levels too added to the discomfiture.
The younger devotees were seen running across the open spaces, wherever they could, while the elderly were not so fortunate. Though the temple staff handed out drinking water sachets, it did little to ease the devotees’ discomfiture, who have to wait for over three hours for darshan.
Security personnel were seen asking the devotees to keep moving when they took small breaks, so that the flow of devotees went on uninterrupted. Meanwhile, the Met department said that the heatwave conditions are due to some seasonal disturbances.
Meanwhile, temple officials are facing the heat as they have failed to provide accommodation to the devotees. Every year, devotees from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnam and Godavari districts, besides parts of Rayalaseema, visit the temple. Apart from this, another 20,000 to 30,000 devotees come from the other parts of the state. However, the temple authorities have failed to arrange accommodation for devotees.
K. Parvati, a devotee from West Godavari district, said that though devotees very much want to stay in cottages belonging to the temple, the authorities ignore this desire. S. Sanyasamma said that she comes from Srikakulam every year, but always faces inconvenience due to non-availability of accommodation.
“The hotels are too costly and not many of the devotees can afford them,” she said.
The temple administration’s plans to construct dormitories for devotees has not materialised so far.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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