Krishna Pushkarams are going on in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana states with great pomp and fair. The Chief Ministers of the two states, Chandrababu Naidu and KCR observed the sacred 'Pushkara Snanam' ritual in a traditional manner and marked the commencement of pushkarams. The traditional ritual that comes once in every twelve years should be given importance. Basic arrangements should be done for the lakhs of devotees to visit the river banks. All the necessary security measures should be taken. Particularly, in light of the fateful incident that happened during Godavari pushkarams last year at Rajahmundry and took 29 lives, it is justified to take utmost care and measures. But the wastage of hundreds and crores of rupees happening in that name is not acceptable.
Almost Rs.800 crore has been spent in Telangana while the expenditure in AP for the pushkarams is around Rs.1700 crore, apparently. Although the Government had to face criticism for spending Rs.1800 crore during Godavari pushkarams, it did not seem to care much. Leave alone the people of the state, those from the Government and the contractors are seeming to enjoy the most. In certain areas, steps were built deep into the river and were later damaged by flood. It is a wonder why the Government failed to call for tenders till the last minute and why the work has been assigned through nomination system. It is being criticised that crores of rupees have gone waste for construction work in the ghats of Vijayawada.
It is heard that AP Government has spent an additional Rs.30 crore for publicity and marketing under the name 'Flexi fund'. If this is all true, it is clear that the Government is acting irresponsible. When pushkarams happened previously, the CMs of that time never made such a fuss and bustle. The present leaders are acting as if the pushkarams have arrived for the first time or as if they have brought them to existence or so is the talk of the town. This has become the primary activity of the Government.
At the time of pushkarams, there was water problem. So the devotees had to take bath in polluted water, growing prone to skin diseases. Now that Krishna river has ample amount of water, this problem may not arise. Complaints are being heard about lack of drinking water provision in most of the ghats. It is suggested that the Government took care of that. It is understood that providing for lakhs of devotees arriving at the ghats is challenging. It is natural for the Government to face such criticism too. But spending crores of rupees on publicity is not suggestible. It is surprising for the CM to say that the world should recognise AP with Krishna pushkarams. There is no relevance between suggesting AP is in deficit on one hand and spending crores on pomp on the other hand. Religion means faith. The Government should not try to misuse the faith of the people to divert them into other problems. Can the Government cause hallucination to people through pushkarams?!
Translated from the article written by
Kommineni Srinivasa Rao, Senior Journalist
(Courtesy of Sakshi TV)
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