Hyderabad: The Telangana government has sought a special grant of Rs 750 crore from the Central government for the conduct of Godavari Pushkaralu, to be held in five districts - Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam districts from July 14 to 25 July this year. Replying to a question raised by MLA Koppula Eshwar and others during Question Hour in Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, Endowments Minister A Indira Karan Reddy said that a proposal was submitted to the Centre with an estimated cost of Rs 907.20 crore and it had been requested to release an amount of Rs 750 crore as a special grant for construction of ghats and improve basic amenities at Pushkaram points and temples along the river.

Stating that government had already allocated Rs 11.50 crore and the tenders to take up the works would be finalised soon, he said a senior IAS official had been appointed as in charge for each district to oversee the arrangements and the Chief Secretary Rajiv Sharma was reviewing the progress of works every 10 days.  APSRTC and Railways has been requested to ply special buses and trains for the convenience of the devotees coming from different states. The Roads & Buildings and Panchayat Raj departments will spend Rs 185 crore and Rs 57 respectively for the construction of BT Roads.

The Endowments Department will be spending Rs 13 crore for sprucing up 46 temples. The Irrigation Department will be spending Rs 82 crore for the development of 88 ghats. He said the South Central Railway had been urged to renovate and repair all the railway stations in five districts. Stating that one IAS officer was being deputed to supervise the works, he hoped that all the works would be completed by the set deadline of June 30.

He also informed that about 900-1500 special buses would be operated by the RTC during the event. The Chief Secretary would be reviewing the works at least once in 10 days, he said. Legislators including P Ajay Kumar, DK Aruna, Kopula Eshwar, N Diwakar Rao, V Prashanth Reddy and NVSS Prabhakar urged the government to ensure facilities like drinking water, toilets, food, emergency healthcare, sanitation and better roads for the devotees. BJP MLA Prabhakar requested the government to conduct an all-party meeting on the arrangements.

Source: THI