Nijarupa darshan of Appanna will begin in the early hours of Saturday

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 

All arrangements have been in place for the smooth conduct of annual Chandanotsavam of the presiding deity of Sri Varaha Lakshmi Nrusimha Swamy on April 29.

It is estimated that over 2 lakh devotes will have the darshan of the Lord Appanna. The Nijarupa darshan will begin in the wee hours of Saturday with the hereditary trustee P.Ashok Gajapati Raju and his family members carrying clothes and ‘chandanam’ and worshipping first.

This year, 27,000 running feet of queue line, 5,000 more than last year are being arranged to accommodate 15,000 pilgrims against 12,000 last year. Bamboonet pandals and shamianas of two lakh sft are being set up uphill and downhill.

Parking slots:: All vehicles coming from Gopalapatnam side have to be parked at Old Gosala junction and those from Hanumanthavaka, Pendurti and Srikakulam side should be parked at Old Adavivaram junction.

Free buses:: From the parking lots, the Devasthanam will run 40 free buses uphill. Private vehicles will not be allowed uphill barring those of public representatives, senior officials and duty vehicles.

Tickets: The Rs.500 and Rs.200 tickets can be purchased at designated bank counters in 25 bank branches, uphill and at the Devasthanam petrol bunk at Gopalapatnam on the day of darshan too.

Darshan:: From 5am to 6am and 4pm to 5pm, the protocol VIP darshan will be allowed. For the other VIPs, 6am to 7.30am 10am to 11.30am and 2pm to 3pm are the timings and they will be indicated on the tickets issued to them. General queue will be open through right from the small hours to 7pm. The queues for the Rs.500 and Rs.200 tickets will be separate in timings other than VIP darshan. The Executive Officer Ramachandra Mohan said a special provision was being made for differently abled in the VIP queue from 11.30 am to 1.30pm.

Prasadam:: The Executive Officer said that 60 voluntary organizations would be involved in providing water, buttermilk and milk to the devotees. He said that more than 8 lakh water sachets would be kept ready. The Devasthanam and two, three other organizations are coming together to provide ‘anna prasadam’ to at least 50,000 devotees.

related news

• Arrangements completed for ‘Chandanotsavam’