The 12-day Godavari Pushkarams ended in a brilliant display of fireworks and laser show with thousands witnessing the grand event from the Pushkar Ghat of the river here on Saturday.
For 12 days a sea of humanity engulfed the river banks and bathed in its waters rendered sacred by the entry of divine entities. The river waters were also enriched by thousands of sages, officials and celebrities taking the holy dip all with lakhs of devotees that flocked to the banks of the river from all over the world. Over 1,000 Kuchipudi dancers perform a ballet depicting the story of Godaavari.
The State government had to make arrangements on a scale never done before to provide transport and other facilities like water, food and medication for those who needed them.
Scholars and artistes flocked to the river banks to bask in the great glory of the Telugu people whose history that is so intertwined with the course of the river. While some were satisfied with getting drenched by the showers arranged on the ghats others took a dip in the river. Some others stood in the water and offered prayers to their hearts content. Many youngsters took selfies and share their experiences on the internet.
Minister for Information and Public Relations, Palle Raghunatha Reddy said that from July 14 to 4 p.m on July 25 as many as 4.81 crore pilgrims had taken holy dip in river Godavari Addressing media conference on Saturday evening, the Minister said in East Godavari 3.31 crore have taken holy dip, whereas in West Godavari the number was 1.49 crore. Mr. Reddy said in last 12 days, the pilgrims have done 3.25 lakh “pinda pradanam” rituals to their elders in all the 269 ghats. He said the government had made elaborate arrangements for the pilgrims for which they got tremendous response, except first day’s small incident. He said the RTC ran 4,98,000 trips to ferry devotees from various parts of the State and 300 free bus services within the city to transport them from railway station, bus stand and pushkara nagars to bathing ghats.
The Minister said through 165 medical camps primary medical aid was given to 3.65 lakh pilgrims and 6.5 lakh water packets, 46 lakh food packets were distributed . As many as 14,237 children who were separated from their families were restored to their respective parents.
The government expected that more than 50 lakh people would take a holy dip on last leg of river festival. However, the rush at the ghats and in the city was far from their estimates. Endowment Minister P. Manikyala Rao, actor and Hindupur MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna and other VIPs took a holy dip at the VIP Ghat here. Cutting across religious faiths, a group of Muslims offered prayers to river Godavari at Goshpada Kshetram at Kovvur. Muslim volunteers were seen helping the aged in reaching bathing ghats.
