Guntur: Devotees in large numbers were seen rushing to Shiva temples to offer Mahashivaratri pujas on Monday. Low water levels in the Krishna proved a problem to devotees who wanted to take a holy dip at old Amaravati. The devotees from near and far areas came to the ancient Amaralingeswara temple at Amaravati but the low levels of water in the river were disheartening.
AP Legislative Assembly Speaker, K. Sivaprasada Rao, minister for agriculture, P. Pulla Rao and others joined Mahashivaratri celebration on the hilltop Trikoteswara temple at Kotappakonda. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Sivaprasada Rao said that Trikoteswara temple would be developed into religious tourism and entertainment centre in the next three years. He opined that Kotappakonda will become a popular hilltop tourist centre of AP in the coming years due to the establishment of new capital Amaravati in Guntur district. He visited the bird sanctuary, fish aquarium and Kalindimadugu and interacted with the devotees about arrangements and facilities.
The devotees in large numbers from AP, Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu states joined the Mahashivaratri rituals on the hilltop Kotappakonda. The devotees from Telangana, P. Sriramulu and others who came from Nalgonda said that they are ardent devotees of powerful Shiva of Kotappakonda who fulfills all wishes of devotees hence they come every year.
Narasaraopeta MP, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Narasaraopeta MLA, Dr. Gopi reddy Srinivas Reddy, Macharla, Gurazala and Vinukonda legislators, P. Ramakrishna Reddy, Y. Srinivas Rao and G.V. Anjaneyulu, minister Pulla Rao, Telugu cine hero, Srikanth, former MLA and YSRC Guntur president, M. Rajasekhar, YSR Congress state secretary, L. Appi Reddy and others conducted pujas. Meanwhile, a penance was performed by Mr Sivaprasada Rao seeking swift development of AP and construction of Amaravati without any hurdles and seeking powers for AP CM Naidu. The people of near and far villages brought big Prabhas (electric light chariots of Shiva) to Kotappakonda which attracted the devotees largely.
Less dip and more shower bath as Krishna dries up:
Devotees expressed displeasure over the arrangements at the ghats of Krishna river near the Durga temple in Vijayawada city on Monday. The rush of devotees increased early morning at the Durga temple and also all the Shiva temples in the city, on the eve of Mahashivaratri. Though officials had expected the festival rush, they failed to arrange basic facilities at the ghats, forcing many devotees to skip the dip in the river.
Insufficient water on the ghats along with lack of proper waste water management restrained devotees from taking the holy dip. The municipal corporation failed to clean the ghats, said R. Malleswara Rao, a devotee.
However, the Durga temple authorities said that they had made all necessary arrangements including sanitation, drinking water, laddu prasadams, pulihora prasadams and others for the devotees. Due to the falling of Mahasivaratri on Monday, many employees got three days continuous holidays including two weekend days.
This gave the opportunity to many devotees to spend their time at religious places, said N. Subrahmanyam, an employee at Vijayawada. He said that many devotees came to Durga temple on Sunday itself to take holy dip in the river, but could not perform it due to muddy water. He added that they took bath at the alternative showers.
