The Lal Darwaza ‘Bonalu’ was celebrated with much fervour in the Old City on Sunday. Thousands of devotees, especially colourfully-clad women carried the ‘Bonam’ - a floral decoration, on their heads and offered it to the goddess Mahankali at the temple in Lal Darwaza.
From early in the morning and throughout the day, there was a steady stream of devotees visiting the temple and offering prayers. ‘Bonalu’, or ‘Goddess Mahankali Bonalu’ is an annual festival of Telangana that is extremely popular. Non-Resident Indians hailing from the State and living across the globe also celebrate the annual festival that is considered a sort of thanksgiving to the Goddess for vows that are fulfilled.
Prominent among those who visited the temple were Nizamabad MP, K. Kavitha, badminton ace Sindhu, Union Minister of State for Labour, B. DattatreyaMinisters A. Indrakaran Reddy (Endowments), E. Rajender (Finance) T. Srinivas Yadav (Animal Husbandry), C. Laxma Reddy (Health), Bharatiya Janata Party State President K. Laxman and MLA G. Kishan Reddy and TPCC general secretary G.Niranjan, to name a few.
Considering its popularity and the fact that it would draw huge crowds, elaborate bandobust arrangements were made. Assistant Commissioner of Police-Falaknuma, Mohd. Tajuddin Ahmed said the entire area around the temple was wired with closed-circuit television cameras, with the footage monitored every second by a team at a control room. “Our arrangements ensured that there was no untoward incident,” he summed up.
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