By Laxmi Pranathi
Copyright deccanchronicle
Vijayawada: In a festival-eve show, leaders of the Auto Nagar and Auto Nagar residents associations organised a massive bike rally and flash mobs here on Thursday.These were by way of a build-up to the Vijayawada Utsav that takes place from Sept 22 to Oct 2. Activists and youths wearing the Utsav caps and T-shirts participated in the bike rally that started from the 100-foot road near the Auto Nagar bus terminal and proceeded through the streets upto the Sai Hotel Centre.Youth groups at each location performed flash mobs to add to the excitement.The festival is being organised by the Society for Vibrant Vijayawada in collaboration with the state government to preserve the culture, arts and traditions of Vijayawada.TDP state office-bearer Nagul Meera said the Vijayawada Utsav would add more splendor to the Dasara celebrations organised at the behest of MP Kesineni Sivanath and others at the KBN College and the Potti Sriramulu Chalavadi Mallikarjuna Rao College of Engineering.Vijayawada West MLA Sujana Chowdary on Thursday reviewed the arrangements for the Dasara festivities starting at Indrakeeladri from Sept 22. Accompanied by temple executive officer VK Seena Naik and alliance leaders, Chowdary checked the facilities by walking through the queue lines and areas such as the Durga Ghat Road, Ratham Centre, and Canal Road.The MLA offered prayers at the Kanakadurga temple. Later, Chowdary said this year’s celebrations would be grander than the previous years.Chowdary said the issues faced in past years would not recur and that arrangements were being made for traffic regulation, parking, and holding areas to prevent devotee inconvenience.Meanwhile, the Durga Temple authorities are constructing a new Annadanam Bhavan and organising the laddu prasadam units, water taps and cooking areas for devotees during the Dasara. EO Seena Naik said that two new facilities were being commissioned to meet the requirements of daily prasadam production throughout the festival.Free meals, prasadam, and breakfast would be provided, with small laddus distributed on the Moola Nakshatram and Vijayadashami days.
