Hyderabad: The Telangana government deployed police and district administration where the Godavari Maha Pushkaralu is being held in view of the Rajahmundry tragedy which left 30 dead and scores injured on Tuesday. CM K .Chandrasekhar Rao, who took a dip in the River Godavari at Dharmapuri in Karimnagar district, along with family members, returned to the capital and immediately convened a high-level meeting.
The CM discussed inflow of crowds at Pushkar ghats, existing arrangements, police bandobust with ministers, the DGP and other officials. He reviewed the situation in Basar, Dharmapuri, Kandukurthy, Kaleswaram, and Bhadrachallam, besides other places where the turnout is large. The CM and his Cabinet colleagues also condoled the death of pilgrims in the stampede.
He monitored arrangements and asked officials to ensure safety to the pilgrims at all Pushkara ghats in the wake of AP the stampede. The CM rushed the Home Minister and the Director General of Police by helicopter to Kaleswaram and Bhadrachallam following reports of huge crowds and asked them to ensure smooth flow of pilgrims and remove any bottle necks.
Mr Rao asked roads and buildings minister, T. Nageswara Rao to stay put at Bhadrachallam till the Pushkaralu is over. “On the CM’s instructions, we visited Kaleswaram to oversee arrangements and ensure safety of pilgrims. We have put police on high alert following the Rajahmundry incident. The turnout of pilgrims is beyond expectation at some places. We are also arranging free transportation from parking places to Puskhar ghats,” an official said.
No incident in Telangana
The first day of the Puskharalu passed off peacefully in Telangana. No major incident was reported. Police in mufti kept a watch at major centres. Major Pushkar ghats are located in temple towns of Basar (Adilabad,), Dharmapuri (Karimnagar), Kandukurthy (Nizamabad), Kaleswaram (Karimnagar) and Bhadrachalam (Khammam). Thousands of people were the ghats and had a bath at 6.26 am on Tuesday, the muhurtham for the event. Mr Rao took a dip thrice and also splashed water on his grandchildren. There was continuous flow of pilgrims at all major Pushkar ghats. Police stopped vehicles half a km away from Pushkara ghats.
