Two lakh devotees are expected to visit Simhachalam temple on Chandanotsavam day on April 30, says Andhra Pradesh Home Minister

Home Minister V. Anitha inspects arrangements for Chandanotsavam festival at Simhachalam, ensuring comfort and safety for devotees.

Home Minister V. Anitha on Sunday inspected the arrangements being made for the annual Chandanotsavam festival of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, at Simhachalam here scheduled on April 30. She was accompanied by District Collector M.N. Harendhira Prasad, Commissioner of Police Shankabratha Bagchi, and Simhachalam Devasthanam officials.

During her visit, Ms. Anitha inspected the queue lines and the other arrangements being made for the devotees. The Collector and the Joint Collector briefed her about the arrangements made so far. She also enquired about basic amenities, including drinking water, toilets, medical kiosks, Annadanam and prasadams distribution, being provided for devotees. She also questioned about the measures being taken in view of heatwave conditions.

Later, the Home Minister also enquired about the security arrangements, deployment of police personnel, CCTV cameras, traffic movement, crowd management mechanism and transportation facilities for the festival.

Speaking to the media, Ms. Anitha said that every year, around 1.20 lakh to 1.40 lakh people visit the temple to witness the ‘Nijaroopa’ darshanam of the deity. But in recent times, the number of devotees thronging the major temples during the festival days in Vijayawada, Tirupati, Srisailam etc has seen at least 30% increase. Keeping this in view, we are expecting two lakh devotees to visit Simhachalam on the day, the Home Minister said.

She said that the State government was giving high priority to the general devotees and strict directions were issued to ensure they do not face any inconvenience. Special attention would be also paid to the differently-abled, women with infants and elderly persons, she said. She also said that special buses would be arranged to transport devotees to the temple.

“Milk, buttermilk, biscuits, prasadams will be distributed to the devotees throughout the queue lines. Fans were arranged at almost every place. Wherever there are no fans, we will also issue hand-pankhas to the devotees in view of the heat,” Ms. Anitha said.