Rajahmundry: Small groups of devotees were seen at the railway and bus stations heading to the bathing ghats in Rajahmundry, Kovvur and Narasapuram in Godavari districts to take part in Godavari Antya Pushkaralu on Sunday. More number of devotees hailing from north Andhra districts are arriving to Rajahmundry.
As the authorities have made elaborate arrangements at the bathing ghats by erecting barricades to regulate the crowds and set up display boards directing them to reach ghats and installed public address system to make announcements, the devotees are reaching the ghats without facing any trouble.
APSRTC authorities are running several additional services to the three above mentioned destinations for the benefit of devotees and they had arranged temporary accommodation and toilets for the devotees to fresh up themselves and reach the ghats. RTC authorities say that the number of devotees arriving from far off places is relatively less on the first day.
Similarly, the railway authorities also find no surge of crowd at the railway stations except the normal flow of passengers. South Central Railway Vijayawada division additional DRM K. Venugopala Rao visited Rajahmundry railway station to take stock of the developments with regard to number of devotees arriving to the city and any requirement to provide additional coaches.
But given the low turnout of the devotees travelling by trains, the authorities seemed to have ruled out any need for the moment.
The civic authorities are advising the devotees not to dump waste after performing rituals into the river water to avoid pollution through public address system and the sanitation staff is clearing the garbage on a regular basis.
Given low turnout of devotees on the first day, a few voluntary agencies are supplying drinking water and butter milk sachets to the devotees visiting ghats. Medical teams are stationed at the ghats to attend to the devotees based on requirement.
East Godavari Collector H. Arun Kumar visited the central control room set up at the municipal corporation office and monitored the devotees performing rituals at major ghats.
