Telangana gears up for state festival Bathukamma

Hyderabad, Sep 20

Arrangements are in full swing for the Bathukamma festival, which is set to be celebrated in a grand manner across Telangana from September 25 to October 3.

The main celebrations will be held on October 3 which will be celebrated as Saddula Bathukamma.

Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar has directed the officials to make elaborate arrangements for Bathukamma.

He said that as a large number of people will be participating in the festival, elaborate arrangements should be made in a befitting manner.

Bathukamma is a colourful, floral festival celebrated by the women folk in Telangana. It is the state government's official festival and considered the symbol of Telangana's culture.

During the nine-day annual festival, women and girls sing and dance around specially arranged flowers. At the end of the festival, they immerse the specially arranged flowers called Bathukamma in local ponds.

Ever since the formation of Telangana state in 2014, Bathukamma has been celebrated as the state festival.

The officials have been directed to illuminate important traffic islands and buildings during the festival. They have been asked to undertake improvement of roads, barricading of immersion points, provision of uninterrupted power supply and organise cultural programmes.

Swimmers will be deployed near Hussain Sagar and at all the immersion points as a precautionary measure.

The Chief Secretary has also asked the officials to decorate pillars of Hyderabad Metro and trains depicting Bathukamma festival. Wide publicity should be given in the social media about the festival, he said.

For Sasddula Bathukamma celebrations in Hyderabad, the Chief Secretary asked the officials to ensure provision of logistics like arrangement of small cranes for immersion of Bathukammas, illumination across the banks of Hussain Sagar, police security, traffic control and regulation, temporary toilets, distribution of butter milk sachets, arrangements of first aid facility, deployment of fire extinguishers etc.

Saddula Bathukamma should also be organised in all the district headquarters, he added.

Telangana Legislative Council member Kalvakuntla Kavitha who heads cultural organization Telangana Jagruthi, has been playing an active role in Bathukamma celebrations.

Kavitha, a former MP and daughter of Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, last year arranged a special show on Bathukamma at world's tallest building Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

Telangana Jagruthi made arrangements to play the Bathukamma documentary on the big screen.

Last year, the organization launched a Bathukamma song 'Allipoola Vennela', composed by music maestro A.R. Rahman and directed Gautham Vasudev Menon.