Sirimanotsavam: Massive security blanket thrown around Vizianagaram

Vizianagaram: More than 2,500 police personnel will be deployed for the security of the annual Sirimanotsavam, a major festival of the presiding deity of Vizianagaram Town Sri Pydithalli Ammavari Jatara.

The festival will be held on October 11 on a grand scale.

Vizianagaram police chief Deepika M Patil visited various places to review the security arrangements for the festival.

For the last two years, a folk festival in north coastal Andhra Pradesh was celebrated without the usual flock of devotees due to Covid-19.

Traditionally, the Sirimanu Jatara, the biggest folk festival in the region, is celebrated on the first Tuesday after the Dasara festival every year. Sirimaanu Panduga draws three to four lakh people from different parts of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, and Chhattisgarh.

Devotees will witness the spectacle of the priest sitting on top of the 55-foot pole (sirimanu) in regal robes to be taken around the fort. Hanging from the upper end of the Sirimanu, the priest blesses the devotees and the chariot covers the thoroughfares of Vizianagaram.

Police said they will be using drones and installing CCTV cameras at strategic places in Vizianagaram town for surveillance and traffic management during the festival.

Sirimanu procession is scheduled to start at around 3.30 pm on October 11 and will cover the thoroughfares from the Vizianagaram Fort to the Pydithalli temple.

Vizianagaram district administration has almost completed all the necessary arrangements for the festival. Traffic restrictions will be in place on October 10 and 11.

Keeping in view the rush of devotees, the APSRTC will run special buses for the festival. The district administration is chalking out plans to cancel VIP passes for the festival.