Telangana Govt. Allocates Rs.20 Cr For Bonalu Festival: Konda Surekha
The funds will be utilized for giving an aesthetic look to temples during Bonalu celebrations: Minister;
Hyderabad: The State government has allocated Rs.20 crore for the annual Bonalu festival to be celebrated from June 26, according to Endowments Minister Konda Surekha here on Tuesday.
Participating in a meeting to review the arrangements to be made for the successful conduct of the festival at Dr. MCR HRD Institute here, the Minister said that a request was made to the State government to allocate Rs.30 crore but only Rs.20 crore was sanctioned.
“We will meet the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy and request him to increase funds for the festival,” she said. The funds would be released to all the temples, which were under the purview of the Endowments department apart from 3,026 temples maintained by other committees.
These funds would be utilized for giving an aesthetic look to the temples by painting them in addition to decorating them with colorful flowers and LED lights. The Ministers and MLAs will offer ‘pattu’ clothes at 28 important temples in the city during the festivities.
The Minister asked officials concerned to accord top priority to prevent stampede-like situations during the festivities as stampedes were occurring during the movement of VIPs.
Barring a couple of problems, the festival was celebrated on a spectacular note. The State government is making elaborate arrangements for the celebrations this time. At the same time, officials must take necessary steps to avert problems to ‘Joginis’ visiting temples.
“We are making arrangements to organize the celebrations in a grander manner compared to last year,” the Minister said, advising officials to work in coordination to avoid unnecessary problems during the festivities.
She made it clear to officials that there should not be any problem to devotees while visiting the temple to take blessings of the goddess. Konda Surekha further stated that a video of the Backward Classes Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar facing a problem went viral last year.
“It is the responsibility of officials to ensure that such incidents would not occur this time,” she added. Ponnam Prabhakar, Director-General of Police Dr. Jitender, Hyderabad Police Commissioner CV Anand, Endowments Principal Secretary Shailaja Ramaiyer and other officials were present during the meeting.