Telangana to host 1 crore at tribal fest

Tribune News Service

Hyderabad, February 5

Telangana’s four-day mega tribal festival ‘Sammakka Saralamma Jatara’ started here at Medaram village in Mulugu district. The state government has made preparations for one crore pilgrims expected to visit from a number of states, including Maharashtra, Odisha and Chhattisgarh.

The state government has released Rs 75 crore for providing necessary facilities to the devotees. Around 12,000 policemen have been deployed to oversee security arrangements. As many as 300 CCTV cameras and 10 drone cameras were installed as part of the security detail.

Governor Tamilsai Soundararajan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao are expected to visit the congregation on February 7, the Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar said. He along with DGP M Mahender Reddy visited the Medaram shrine to oversee the arrangements as well as the crowd management today.

State-owned TSRTC is operating 4,000 bus services to ferry people to and from Medaram.

The occasion has been declared as a state festival.