Tirupati gears up to celebrate ‘Ganga Jatara’ today

Tirupati: The week-long annual folk festival Gangamma Jatara celebrations here reached its peak on Monday. The devotees in various attires flocked Gangamma temple in fulfilment of their vows and offered prayers. The colourful Sapparalu added more colour and momentum to the festivity. The pilgrim city is all set to celebrate Ganga Jatara, the last major event of the seven-day folk festival in a grand manner on Tuesday.

Keeping in view of huge crowds that may throng the temple, the police department has geared up to deploy additional forces to prevent any untoward incident. Temple management made elaborate arrangements for devotees to have hassle-free darshan. Civic corporation made arrangements for sanitation, drinking water and others.

After Tuesday midnight, a clay idol of Gangamma, called 'Viswaroopam', will be installed in front of the temple and the cheek will be removed following tradition. Later devotees will take away part of the clay to their house, which marks end of jatara.