The Government of Telangana is gearing up and pulling out all the stops to ensure that the estimated 6.5 crore people, expected to take a holy dip in the river during ‘Godavari Pushkaralu’, have a comfortable, smooth and safe experience.

While the State has sent proposals to the tune of Rs. 920 crore, it expects at least Rs. 750 crore as Central assistance. “We have been asked to send detailed project report for Rs. 750 crore by the month-end. It includes details of works proposed, including repairs to old bathing ghats and taking up construction of new ghats, washrooms and changing rooms for women, rain-proof shelters and black-topped approach roads to the river across the Godavari’s course in Telangana,” Endowments Minister A. Indrakaran Reddy told the Telangana Assembly during question hour on Wednesday.

“Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is keen on making every arrangement for the first ‘Godavari Pushkaralu’ that the new State will see, on the lines of the ‘Kumbh Mela’. Mr. Rao will invite the President, Pranab Mukherjee, and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Pushkaralu,” Mr. Reddy said on the floor of the Assembly.

The Endowments Minister said a Cabinet sub-committee was constituted with four Ministers and a Government Order issued on December 22 last. A senior IAS officer will monitor works in each of the five districts that the Godavari touches in the State, starting from Nizamabad, Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and Khammam. It will be a coordinated effort with the involvement of Revenue, Roads & Buildings, Panchayat Raj, Irrigation, Municipal Administration and Endowments Departments.

BJP MLA N.V.S.S. Prabhakar wanted the State government to convene a meeting of concerned MLAs from the five districts to discuss physical works and another with religious heads to decide the modalities of spiritual traditions to be followed at the bathing ghats, especially those adjacent to temples all along the course of the River Godavari in Telangana.