VISAKHAPATNAM: With a majority of devotees offering worship at Sri Kanakamahalakshmi temple in old city during the Margasira Maasam festival in December, the Police Commissionerate has been requested to deploy 60 women constables for duty near the sanctum sanctorum.

Disclosing this at a media conference here on Friday, Executive Officer of the temple S. Kondala Rao said that police were also requested to control traffic in the narrow roads leading to the temple during the festival from December 2 to 31 when lakhs of devotees not only from the city but from the neighbouring districts and States as well would pour in to offer worship, he said.

Publicity

He said that the services of an additional 125 personnel from the Endowments Department are being requisitioned for the annual festival being organised on a large scale as never before.

"CMR is taking care of all the publicity. They are spending Rs.2 lakhs on posters. About 10,000 posters in Telugu are sent for display in major cities in the State. Also, 30 ft. hoardings will be set up in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Rajahmundry, Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Guntur and Chittoor besides Visakhapatnam. Some 3,000 posters in Hindi are being dispatched to Orissa, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh to attract the devotees from those States," he said.

A highlight of the festival this year would be the decoration of Ashtalakshmi idols with flowers at a cost of Rs.10,000 per day.

The flowers would arrive from Vijayawada and Kadiam. There would be ten idols in all--an idol of Sri Kanakamahalakshmi and Sri Rajarajeswari besides the Ashtalakshmis which were getting ready in time for the inaugural of the festival next week, he said.

The EO said that about 15 lakh devotees were expected to participate in the Margasira festival this year. A number of rituals will be conducted everyday. Mahannadana Mahotsavam would be conducted on the last Thursday of the month.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail