Peddagattu temple witnesses significant change in last six years
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao laid special focus on the temple development and has been making special arrangements for the biennial four-day Peddagattu jatara
Published Date - 26 February 2021, 06:43 PM
Suryapet: Sri Lingamathula Swamy temple at Peddagattu hill shrine is all decked up for the four-day Peddagattu jatara which is also known as Gollagattu jatara. With Rs 10.74 crores extended by the State government in the last six years, the Peddagattu hill shrine near Durajpally in Nalgonda district has been developed with several facilities for the devotees.
The four-day Peddagattu jatara is considered as second largest religious congregation after Sammakka Saralamma in Telangana State. An estimated 16-22 lakh devotees are likely to participate in the jarata held once in every two years. Peddagattu is located at about 5 km from the district headquarters of Suryapet and 138 km from the State capital of Hyderabad.
Before the State formation in 2014, the then governments in erstwhile Andhra Pradesh have feigned ignorance and failed to create basic amenities like drinking water to the jatara which was attracting more than 10 lakh devotees from the States of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra, Odisha, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu every year. The devotees were then forced to draw water from agricultural open wells located at the place for the purpose of drinking water and cooking. Even the steps were also not constructed properly to help the devotees reach the temple atop of the hillock.
However, the scenario has completely changed after the State formation as Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao laid special focus on the temple development and has been making special arrangements for the biennial jatara. Since 2014, the State government has sanctioned Rs 10.74 crore for renovation and development of the temple as well as for providing basic facillities for the devotees.
With the initiative of Minister G Jagadish Reddy, the State government sanctioned Rs 5.68 crore in 2015 when the first Peddagattu ‘jatara’ was held after formation of Telangana State. For the ‘jatara’ in 2017, Rs 1.49 crore was sanctioned by the State government. Continuing with its allocation, it sanctioned Rs 1.57 crore for the ‘jatara’ for 2019. With the funds, permanent facilities including temple lake (koneru), drinking water facility, steps on the hillock where the temple is located and road around the temple were taken up in addition to the temporary arrangements for the ‘jatara’.
In 2017, the ‘koneru’ was constructed at the temple, which was widely appreciated by the devotees. Construction of rest rooms for the temple priests, guest house and ‘Kalyana Katta’ were also completed at the temple. The State government has released Rs 2 crore to make necessary arrangments for the jatara this year, which is scheduled to begin from February 28. Lighting system, queue line barricades and other arrangements including sanitation works, have been taken up at the temple. A total Rs 1.31 crores have been already spent for arrangements for this year festival.
Elaborate security with 1,400 policemen
The police are also geared up to make foolproof security arrangements for four day jatara.
Speaking to Telangana Today, Superintendent of Police R Bhaskaran informed that the area of jatara was divided into 12 sectors for the convenience of providing security for four days. In all, 1,400 police personnel including six DSPs, 36 Circle Inspectors, 102 Sub-Inspectors, 180 Assistant Sub-Inspectors, 690 police constables, 450 home guards, 86 women police, four Quick Response Teams (QRT) six special parties and Bomb Disposal Squad and Dog Squad would also deployed for the purpose of security for jatara.
The police would keep an eagle eye on the area of hatara with 44 CC TV cameras and two drone cameras. The police succeeded in making the last jatara as a theft-free one with their efforts.
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