This sleepy village, which is also the native place of Maoist leader Muppala Laxman Rao alias Ganapathi, has turned into beehive of activity with the passage of several thousands of pilgrims for Godavari Pushkaralu at Kummunuru village in Sarangapur mandal.
The very mention of Bheerpur village, leave alone visiting it, used to instil fear in people due to the presence of naxalites.
Thanks to the fading out of the Maoist movement, this is the first time, the district authorities have organised the Godavari Pushkaralu in Kummunuru village, which is about 10 kilometres from Bheerpur village. The pilgrims have to pass through this village to reach the pushkar ghats at Kummunuru.
Buoyed over the conduct of the Pushkaralu in this mandal, the Bheerpur villagers have erected welcome signboards and boards showing directions to the pushkar ghats. Incidentally, the pilgrims coming from far flung places, and proceeding to Kummunuru, are making a brief halt at Bheerpur village after seeing the Peace memorial constructed by the police on the outskirts of the village.
More than 20 meters tall the peace memorial was constructed by the police in memory of the civilians killed in the hands of the Maoists in the Sarangapur mandal a decade ago. Sugunamma, who runs a tea-stall at the peace memorial, said that she was doing roaring business. The Bheerpur village youth have turned into volunteers and were regulating queue lines, parking lots etc.Thota Srinivas, who had returned from Gulf, said that “after seeing several thousands of vehicles and pilgrims passing from our village, we feel as if our village has turned into a city”. A decade and half ago, no one dared to visit our village , he recollected.
