Jayashankar Bhupalpally: Authorities of various departments under the supervision of District Collector S Krishna Aditya are making all arrangements for devotees at the Kaleshwara-Muktheshwara temple at Kaleshwaram, located on the banks of River Godavari, in the district for Maha Shivaratri festivities. The auspicious Maha Shivaratri is on March 11.

According to Aditya, the Maha Shivaratri festivities would be held at the temple from March 10 to 12. “We are expecting nearly two lakh devotees during the Maha Shivaratri celebrations from Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh. Keeping this in view, the TSRTC will ply 150 special buses from different stations to Kaleshwaram,” he added.

Rural Water Supply (RWS) Assistant Engineer Vinay said that they had started cleaning the nine water tanks and bathrooms for the use of the devotees. He said that as many as 60 expert swimmers would be made available round the clock at the Godavari River as the devotees take a holy bath in the river before visiting the temple. The officials of the Panchayat Raj Department have taken up the cleaning of the bathing ghats at the river.

Temple Executive Officer (EO) Maruthi said that special lighting would be set up at the temple besides setting up barricades for queue lines. Collector Krishna Aditya also directed the officials to speed up development works taken up with Rs 25 crore sanctioned by the State government for the improvement of the permanent facilities at the temple. The Endowments department took up the construction of Anivetti Mandapam, 100-room lodge, Abhisheka Mandapam, a huge kitchen, Annadana hall, dormitory, Apara Karma Mandapam on the banks of Godavari, and development of Yamagundam lake at the temple.

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