Pilgrims take over Rajahmundry; no complaints

RAJAHMUNDRY/KOVVURU/HYDERABAD: The city of Rajahmundry witnessed unprecedented inflow of pilgrims on Thursday with nearly 8.5 lakh people taking a holy dip by mid noon.
The second day of Pushkarams was marked by mixed responses from pilgrims. While most expressed satisfaction over the arrangements made by the authorities, auto drivers demanding excess fares, poor quality of food in hotels were some loud complaints being heard from several pilgrims.
Some police personnel who came from III Town station of Nandyal in Kurnool district and some others from Hyderabad reportedly lodged a complaint alleging that the person in-charge of supplying food for them was acting hand-in-glove with the contractor.Some of their colleagues were admitted in hospital after consuming the poor quality food, they alleged.
Similarly, the number of out-patients registered — though less in proportion to the inflow of the crowd — is reportedly going up with about 300 OPs registered at Godavari station alone. Most of the complaints were of diarrhoea, vomiting and fever.
According to the doctor in charge at the Pushkar ghat health centre, most of the complaints were of general nature.
In Kovvuru town, 77 OPs were reported till the early hours of Thursday. According to the staff of the health centre near the railway station here, there was no doctor available on the third shift.
Though officials provided accommodation at the five Pushkar Nagars, most pilgrims did not prefer to stay and opted to leave the town immediately after taking the holy dip. According to the in charge of Pushkar Nagar bus stop at Government Arts College, most people were leaving soon after the Pushkar dip. Only those arriving during night time from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Orissa were renting out rooms and staying for a longer time.
Rajahmundry municipal commissioner (RMC) T S R Anjaneyulu said that efforts are being made to maintain sanitation throughout the city, particularly in places where the pilgrim rush was more.
Ih Hyderabad, chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu instructed collectors to take care of barricades, fleecing by auto drivers and maintaining hygienic condition at all Pushkar ghats in the state.
Naidu held a teleconference to review the ongoing Pushkarams and minor problems faced by the people. He asked the West Godavari collector to improve traffic management and told him to take care of the supply of drinking water in Kovvur municipality.
The chief minister told the Khammam collector to provide sufficient bus services from Bhadrachalam to Parnasala. He instructed the Adilabad collector to take steps to streamline the long queue at the Basar temple besides improving the sanitary conditions in and around the Puskhar ghat near the temple.