VIJAYAWADA: Dasara festival is fast approaching and the Navaratri celebrations are scheduled to commence on September 28 on the Indrakeeladri, the abode of Goddess Kanaka Durga, in Vijayawada. Lakhs of devotees are expected to throng the hill shrine to offer prayers during the nine day-long celebrations.But, devotees are daunted by the back-breaking bumpy ride through the One Town road that that they have to take to reach the temple. On Vijaya Dasami, the last day of celebrations, lakhs of devotees undertake Bhavani Deeksha by visiting the temple and going around the Indrakeeladri (Giri Pradakshina).The roads surrounding the Indrakeeladri are full of potholes and in a harrowing condition endangering the safety of commuters as well as pedestrians. Traffic snarls are a common sight here and people of Bhavanipuram and other areas who reach the city through the main road are facing several hardships. A Subba Rao, a petty vendor in One Town, says: “I am scared of moving in the One Ttown area where roads are full of potholes and traffic jams are order of the day.” Officials are taking up repair works in a hurried manner and are not paying much attention to quality.Municipal officials are hurrying through the works to finish them before the commencement of Dasara festivities. No one knows why the works had not been initiated much earlier.It may be noted that the public health department has taken up repair of the national highway near Ashoka Pillar at the entrance of the ghat road with the funds allotted by Vijayawada West MLA V Srinivasa Rao.Several doubts about the newly extended ghat road still linger because the surface of the extended part of the road has sunk several times due to heavy rains. To raise the surface of the extended road, a concrete road is being laid to cover the damaged area. It is learnt concrete road had been laid earlier too but the roads remain damaged even now and this does not appear to be a permanent solution. However, the works are going on and are not completed yet.Devotees say the quality of roads might be bad and soon result into roads full of potholes because officials are rushing through repairs. However, K Srinivasa Rao, a devotee, says he is relieved at least now the municipal officials have woken up to the problem and are carrying out repair works in the name of Dasara celebrations.Rope way project still pending The ropeway proposal mooted by AP Tourism Development Corporaition (APTDC) connecting Prakasam Barrage to the Sri Kanaka Durga temple is still pending. With lack of initiation by politicians and officials, the proposal has been pending for the past several years and has not been not materialized yet. The AP tourism officials had proposed the ropeway to make it an added attraction to the city as lakhs of devotees visit the city to get a glimpse of Goddess Kanka Durga. The ropeway ropeway will also help ease traffic congestion on the national highway at the entrance of temple ghat road where devotees reach the temple directly without crossing the road, at Prakasam Barrage, which is often the centre for traffic snarls. APTDC divisional manager J Raghupathi Rao said that temple officials had accepted the proposal and were ready to provide a site for rope way landing. But, they are yet to get a clearance from irrigation officials for setting up a base station near Sitammavaripadalu near Prakasam Barrage.Road repairs in Vijayawada Vijayawada municipal corporation executive engineer A Udaykumar said that they municipality has taken up both repairing and relaying of several roads around Indrakeeladri, keeping in view the ‘Giri Pradakshina’ during Dasara celebrations. He adds that repairs of KC road, Cromabay road, Urmila Subbaraonagar road, Kabela road, Fish Market road, Brahmin Veedhi road and Kumarripalem road have been taken up at the cost of `6 crore. The road works are expected to be completed by Sept 24.Kanaka durga temple works Referring to the development works taken up by Sri Kanaka Durga temple authorities in view of Navaratri celebrations, executive engineer Balamuralikrishna said, about 23 works have been taken up which have been entrusted to 21 different agencies for execution. Of the 23 works, two works including supply of water packets and installing CCTV cameras at the temple surroundings were pending as there was no response to tenders. The temple executive engineer added that seven other works have been entrusted to various government departments including public health. He said that the works have commenced and would be completed soon. It may be noted that district collector SAM Rizvi held a meeting with officials and directed them to complete the works by September 24.
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