Visakhapatnam: Thousands throng Simhachalam Chandanotsavam

The premises of the colourfully decorated Simhachalam was crowded to its brim on Sunday as devotees from Visakhapatnam and its surrounding districts for the Chandanotsavam. Devotees started thronging it in since the wee hours to have a glimpse of the ‘Nijaroopam’ of Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy, the presiding deity of the temple. On this auspicious Akshaya Trithiya day, the sandalwood paste overlaying the idol for the entire year is removed and devotees are allowed to have the rare opportunity of witnessing it for only a few hours.

It was the temple’s hereditary trustee, P Ashok Gajapathi Raju, who had the darshan first. Later, Minister for Endowments Kottu Satyanarayana and TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy presented silk robes to the deity on behalf of the state government. Ministers, MLAs, MLCs and senior officials were among others who had early darshan. For the convenience of devotees attending the Simhachalam Chandanotsavam, RTC operated special buses to the hilltop temple, while the Visakhapatnam District authorities made elaborate arrangements.

Chaos at queue lines

Despite a slew of measures taken by the authorities for hassle-free darshan to the common people, chaos prevailed at queue lines due to the heavy rush from the early hours. Even senior officials had to wait for hours in the queue lines reflecting the situation. Similarly, the vehicular traffic on way to the hilltop came to a halt at several places and traffic snarls was a common sight on the road leading to the temple.

Some of the devotees, who returned after the darshan, expressed displeasure at the arrangements as an inconvenience was caused to them all the way. They said the authorities failed in crowd management. The devotees lamented that no facilities were provided to them while they were in serpentine queue lines. The ‘Nijaroopa Darshanam’ ended at 7 pm.

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