Boat Racing, Swimming Competitions in River Godavari Marks Sankranti Festival

Kakinada: While many are busy with cockfights and other gambling games during this Sankranti festival season. an organisation has come forward to conduct boat race and swimming competitions as is done in Kerala for its Onam season.

The settings for these were arranged in a canal of River Godavari between Bobbarlanka and Atreyapuram in the Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district.

Kothapeta MLA Chirla Jaggireddy inaugurated the boat race and swimming competitions on Sunday. Jaggireddy said several cultural programmes and competitions are being held and a Prabhala Teertham would be held on a grand scale during this season.

He said that during Prabhala Teertham at Kothapet and Avidi villages, a major attraction would be the bursting of crackers in the form of a fireworks display.

He appreciated the CRC for organising the boat race, swimming competitions, Vemana Jayanthi and Sankranti festivals in an impressive manner. A village pond is being developed at a cost of Rs 1 crore in the name of Alluri Sitharamaraju at Atreyapuram village, he said.

Many fishermen participated in the boat racing.