The flip side to Simhachalam Giri Pradakshina in Visakhapatnam

The Simhachalam Giri Pradakshina 32-km walk from the ‘Toli Pavancha’ began on Monday afternoon at the Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple, popularly known as Simhachalam Temple, covering various areas of Visakhapatnam. This year, the number of devotees was higher as compared to the previous year. They were in the right spirit and started their procession very early in the morning. Also, the devotees were provided with first-aid facilities, snacks, water kiosks and other necessary amenities.

The Giri Pradakshina volunteers did an excellent job in distributing the amenities to the attendees. However, the latter continued to litter their surroundings all day long. Furthermore, some of the devotees were seen using plastic sacks, to cover their feet, and then after the procession, it was observed that they were discarding them on road side.

In addition to the littering, there was also lot of mismanagement in organising the logistics of the Simhachalam Giri Pradakshina procession. This resulted in the roads getting jammed as well as heavy traffic congestion along the route. Various roads leading to the beach were shut down, thereby hampering the residents residing in that locality. Similarly, the vehicles at Gopalapatnam Junction faced hindrance in trying to pass through.

The respective civic authorities, as well as the citizens of Visakhapatnam, should take note of these issues for future public events and processions.