Thousands take holy dip on culmination of Maha Sivaratri celebrations in Visakhapatnam

Devotees throng nearby temples and offer prayers

Thousands of devotees took a holy dip at sea, in the waters along the beach stretch from R.K Beach to Bheemunipatnam, after completing day-long fasting on the occasion of Maha Sivaratri festival here on Sunday.

Devotees started arriving from the early hours at the beaches, especially R.K Beach, where night-long cultural programmes were held by the TSR Seva Peetham. A large number of families, including children and elderly persons, gathered at the beach as it was a Sunday. Jodugullapalem Beach and Appughar Beach also saw a huge turnout of devotees since the early hours. Police personnel were busy in providing proper parking spaces and ensuring the smooth flow of traffic. Many NGOs and private organisations had set up stalls providing drinking water, food and energy drinks for the devotees. After taking the holy dip, devotees thronged nearby Sivalayams and offered special prayers.

Similarly, Appikonda Beach, Yarada, Rushikonda Beach, Bheemunipatnam, Sagar Nagar Beaches also witnessed huge turnout of devotees. Like every year, Appikonda Beach received thousands of devotees from Gajuwaka, Duvvada, Malkapuram, Kancharapalem and surrounding areas to take holy dip, after which the devotees visited t renowned Sri Someswara Swamy Temple, located near the beach.

The city police had arranged special outposts at R.K Beach, Jodugullapalem, Appikonda and a few other beaches to monitor the flow of visitors. Apart from deploying swimmers, fishermen were engaged with boats at sea as a precautionary measure. Police constables and community guards were seen alerting people not to go deep into the water as a precaution to prevent drownings. Special stalls were arranged, anticipating cases of missing children. In Appikonda Beach alone, police traced around 19 children, who went missing, while at R.K beach three children had gone missing. The newly-inducted beach patrolling vehicles were deployed at various points.

Police Commissioner Ch. Srikanth announced that due to proper planning and security arrangements, no untoward incidents were reported anywhere.