Jampanna vaagu at the Sammakka Saralamma Jathara is Jampacked. More than a lakh of people have turned up for the first day of Jathara. The pilgrims are taking a religious holy dip at the Jampanna Vagu here before going to Gadde for the Puja here.
Some pilgrims are shaving their heads, while some others are offering jaggery with their weight.
The pilgrims are on the rise and also the income of the Jathara. The state government has declared it as a state festival and the MPs have demanded that it must be considered as a National festival.
Banda Prakash making a point in the parliament described it as the Kumbh Mela of the south and suggested that it must be recognised as the national festival.
The police and the forest department are taking care of the security as the festival continues in the forest area for 4 days in a row. They are seeing that there will be no open animal sacrifices here apart from the sale of illicit liquor.
At the same time, the festival is being celebrated free of plastic covers. Jute covers are being used to carry the vegetables, coconut and pooja items so on and so forth.
The Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao and the TRS working President K Taraka Rama Rao are expected to make a visit to the Jathara in one of the 4 days.
The Ministers and the Chief Secretary have already visited and reviewed the Jathara arrangements.
