Vijayawada: Weeks before the Dasara festivities, donations have started pouring in at the Goddess Kanaka-durga temple on Indrakeeladri here.
Devotees have already donated Rs 50 lakh for the Annaprasada scheme in a month. Besides, gold worth nearly Rs 80 lakh has been donated from August 17.
This includes a 1.2 kg kasula peru, 200-gram pachala garam and a 160-gram necklace which have been deposited with executive officer V. Koteswaramma.
Devotees believe that they must have Annaprasadam at the temple after completion of darshan of the goddess. The Annapra-sada scheme was launched on January 1, 1991.
Annaprasadam is provided to 5,000 persons a day. A minimum of 100 ml of milk is provided to children, a scheme that was initiated recently. Officials have proposed to distribute appam free as prasadam.
Passes will be given to devotees who have donated more than '1 lakh for Annaprasadam. Four persons will be allowed to have darshan on each donor pass. For the convenience of the donors, a cell has been allocated in the temple premises.
Parking at the temple premises has been provided for about 100 cars. A total of 25 granite benches have been arranged at Sivalayam Street.
A semi-permanent shed near Mahamandapa and fabric shed at Ghat Road have been arranged. The health unit with two doctors has been upgraded with one bed. For the devotees, a coffee shoppe will be set up to run on no-profit-no loss basis.
Ahead of the huge rush expected for Dasara, officers are concentrating on beautification of the premises. A temporary place has been arranged for the Lalitha Sahasra Parayana by individuals or groups of devotees. An idol of Mouna Swami has been reinstated at Chinnaraja Gopuram.
“We are equipping Indrakeeladri with facilities for the devotees. We are expecting about 20 per cent more devotees this year, it was about 15 lakh last year,” said Ms Koteswaramma, executive officer.
She said the largest number of devotees were expected on Mula Nakshatra Day and Vijayadasami
She said work on two-way queue lines were in progress, and beautification with greenery had been completed. She said that on the orders of Krishna collector B. Lakshmikantham, the duration of cultural programmes was decreased to four hours during the duration of the festival.
