Vijayawada Durga temple gets reddy for Dussehra festival

Vijayawada: The ten days of Dussehra festival will begin on September 29, and the celebrations will continue till October 8 (Dussehra day) at Vijayawada Durga temple. In this context, The temple EO Suresh Babu conducted a meeting with the officials over the arrangements.

Just like every year, the queue lines will start from Vinayaka temple near Radham centre. Free buttermilk and water packets will be distributed to the devotees standing the lines for the darshan.

The authorities have arranged nine buses to bring the devotees to the top of Indrakeeladri. The officials estimate Rs 1.50 lakh expenditure per day for the flowers decoration of Ammavaru during the festival.

EO Suresh Babu said that free prasadam would be given to the devotees and free darshan will be provided for orphans in the Ashram on the second or third day of Navratri celebrations.

He said that this time there would be Chaturanga Balala parade before the procession of Ammavaru. The temple authorities are expecting to sell 20 lakh laddu and 16 lakh pulihora packets during festival celebrations.

He added that for the past three years, no funds were received from the state government. After YS Jagan becoming as Chief Minister, he has declared Dussehra as the state festival. With this, the temple EO said they are expecting special funds from CM YS Jagan for the festival.

It's expected that nearly 12 to 13 lakh devotees will attend the festival celebrations. Usually, heavy rush of devotees is seen on Mula Nakshatram, Vijayadashami. Over the Dussehra arrangements, a coordination meeting will be conducted with various departments headed by the District Collector on Saturday.