Rs 200 crore booster dose for Medaram tourism: CM K Chandrasekhar Rao

MEDARAM: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday announced Rs 200 crore would be spent for development works and creation of permanent structures at Medaram for the convenience of pilgrims attending the biennial tribal fair at the forest village. Medaram, he said, would be developed into a religious tourism spot.
KCR accompanied vicepresident M Venkaiah Naidu and offered prayers to tribal deities Sammakka-Saralamma at Medaram in Jayashankar-Bhupalapalli district even as the crowd at the tribal fair swelled on the third day.The Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara will conclude on Saturday.
Friday was an auspicious day for devotees of Sammakka-Saralamma as both deities are present at the Gadde (platform) for darshan. While Saralamma arrived on Wednesday, Sammakka arrived on Thursday night. They will return to their home in the forests on Saturday. There were serpentine queues outside the Gadde as devotees turned up in lakhs for darshan. Police made elaborate security arrangements in view of the VVIP visit.
Traffic jams were seen on all roads leading to Medaram. The police stopped the darshan for common people in view of the VVIP visit. The darshan resumed after vicepresident and the chief minister left the venue. KCR was accompanied by his wife.
A few devotees fell unconscious after standing in queue for hours. The heat added to their woes. Medical staff shifted the ill to a local hospital where they got first aid.
The atmosphere was tense when police manhandled a video journalist near Gadde. Police were on their toes just before the arrival of the chief minister. Following the skirmish, scribes staged protest at the main entrance.
KCR offered 52 kg of jaggery to Sammakka. He performed special rituals for the goddesses. He said that Rs 200 crore would be released for permanent structures in Medaram. A budgetary provision would be made for the next biennial Jatara in 2020. He also said the government would construct a dam across Jampannavagu for permanent water source to the Jatara. He announced that the government will acquire 200 to 300 acres for development works at Medaram. He said Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara had been neglected in undivided AP. He said due to ill health he could not attend the festival in 2016. Venkaiah Naidu offered 84 kg of jaggery to Sammakka.
Meanwhile, TSRTC said it has ferried 7.55 lakh pilgrims to Medaram in three days.