Officials Identify Challenges in Maha Sivaratri

Kakinada: Lakhs of devotees took a holy dip in different ghats of erstwhile East and West Godavari districts and made a grand success of the Maha Saiva Ratri, which is seen as a trial run for the Godavari Pushkaralu, since Sunday night.

The authorities breathed a sigh of relief as there were no untoward incidents. However, they identified some problems, which would be addressed before the Pushkaralu-2027.

According to sources, more than 8 lakh devotees, including Pattiseema (between 2 to 3 lakh) in Polavaram mandal, more than 2 lakh in Balive in Eluru district, 2 lakh in Pithapuram, 1.50 lakh in Rajamahendravaram (various ghats), 30,000 in Kovvuru and ghats like Kotipalli, Narsapur etc, took the holy dip in Godavari and other waters.

Security officials made use of the Artificial intelligence technology and CC cameras to assess the crowd progressions at the ghats and at various Siva temples in these districts.

Previously, if the devotees wanted to reach the Lord Bhadrakali Sametha Veerabhadra Swamy temple located close to River Godavari at Pattiseema, they sailed by boats, resulting in some accidents. This time, a temporary bridge was laid. The number of devotees has increased as a result.

Eluru SP, Pratap Shiva Kishore, told Deccan Chronicle that seven drones, including Thermal Drone,s have been deployed at Pattiseema to monitor the crowd management, identify the law and order problem, and in locating the missing children.

The thermal drones assisted the personnel to identify the men during the night time too.

However, he said, there existed an alternative road, which could be made use of in future situations, apart from widening the existing Kovvuru-Pattiseema Road and having a permanent double lane bridge at Pattiseema for the Pushkaralu. These would reduce the traffic congestion.

Kovvur DSP Deva Kumar said there is a necessity of increasing the number of ghats and developing an alternative route to ply the vehicles through Gopalapuram, Devarapalli etc.

According to sources, officials used fishermen for running the boats and keeping the nets at the ghats. However, the fishermen complained that the government did not pay them the money for last year's Maha Sivaratri services. Hence, this time, they were reluctant to step in.

Fisheries officials managed to soothe their feelings and get them to join hands with them for the Maha Sivaratri event. Fishermen leaders said the government should pay them their dues if it expected to take their services for the Godavari Pushkaralu.

Rajamahendravaram municipal commissioner Rahul Meena observed that more devotees were coming in at some ghats. Though the other ghats too were in good condition, they were not showing much interest in going there.

Meena felt that the devotees can be spread to other ghats too with effective crowd management.

Some people stressed, “There is also a need to better control the traffic as many streets in Rajamahendravaram remained congested. The government has been urged to create the right ambience for the Godavari Pushkarlu-2027.”