Telangana’s first Bhima Pushkaram

MAHBUBNAGAR: The Mahbubnagar district administration is chalking out plans to set up bathing ghats and making safety and security arrangements as they gear up to host Bhima Pushkarams later this month.
The 12-day festival, which is celebrated every 12 years, was last observed in October 2006.  The pushkarams, being held for the first time after the creation of separate Telangana State, will see devotees from across the country worshipping Bhima river, which is a subsidiary of Krishna river. The river which takes birth in Western Ghats of Maharashtra and enters the district at Sukralingampally village.

As part of the preparations, the district administration is planning to set up four bathing ghats - one for the VIPs and three for the general public which will come up in Kusumoorthi, Sukunoor Lingampally and Thangidi villages. For the convenience of the devotees, the administration is also planning to set up a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plants, to lay bituminous (BT) roads and create parking spaces.

The officials are expecting a large number of devotees from across Telangana as well as the neighbouring States like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. One Extension Officer of Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (EOPRD) will be in-charge of each bathing ghat and he will be assisted by Panchayat secretaries while 15 sanitation workers also employed on each ghat.