Huge rush on most auspicious day
Officials had a hard time controlling the crowd, Ambulances stuck due to convoy
Lakhs of devotees made it to the tribal shrine to seek the blessings of Sammakka and Saralamma on the third day of the Medaram Jatara on Friday. This marks the most significant day of the festivities as both deities can seen at the altars. People occupied every inch of space in the village turning it into a sea of devotees.
The queues got longer and stretched out on to the road leading to entrance of the temple. In order to avoid jostling and over-crowding, police blocked the flow of devotees by diverting them to other entrances. Consequently, many side exits were converted into entrances so as to avoid possibilities of stampede. The surge of devotees continued into the night and they filled both sides of Jampanna vagu. Along the stretch were huge shelters for the crods to take rest but even they were filled. Temporary settlements could be seen up to a radius of three kilometres.
Devotees, attired in traditional tribal outfits, arrived at the temple in processions. They offered prasadam to the deities even as the police personnel rushed them towards the exit gate.
Officials had a hard time controlling the huge crowd. NSS volunteers and police personnel deployed at the queue lines and inside the darshan area had a field day as flow of devotees never ended.
In-charge Collector R.V. Karnan, IG Y. Nagi Reddy and special officer V.P. Goutham personally monitored the crowd movement at the altars. Panchayat Raj Minister Errabelli Dayakar Rao and Tribal Welfare Minister Satyavathi Rathod inspected several areas of Medaram to ensure that the devotees did not face any inconvenience.
Vehicular traffic was diverted effectively by converting several routes into one-way entry or exit points from Medaram.
At least 70 lakh devotees visited the shrine in three days.
TELANGANA GOVERNOR Tamilisai Soundarajan, Himachal Pradesh governor Bandaru Dattatreya and Telangana chief minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao were among the few VIPs who visited the shrine on Friday
BOTH THE governors arrived in Medaram in the same helicopter. They made an aerial survey of the area before landing on the helipad near the police camp.
TS CHIEF MINISTER K. Chandrasekhar Rao arrived in a different chopper later in the afternoon.