Elaborate Arrangements Underway For Medaram Jathara

Elaborate arrangements have been made for the popular Medaram Jathara, a four-day tribal festival, which will commence on January 31.

The biennial event, also known as the Sammakka-Saralamma Jathara, is expected to attract the participation of more than one crore people this year, according to sources in the state government.

The tribal villages of Medaram, Kannepalli, Orattam, Kondayi, Bakkayyapeta, Narlapur, Elbaka and Thadvayi, where tents have been pitched for the pilgrims to stay during the festival, have already started the final phase of the preparations for the Jathara.

With tribal people of not only the two Telugu states but also from Maharashtra, Chattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and the north-eastern states expected to attend, the South Central Railway has made arrangements for running 16 special trains between Secunderabad and Warangal, and Kazipet and Sirpur Kagaznagar.

The Telangana State RTC, too, is making arrangements to run over 4,000 buses for the Jathara.

Meanwhile, the Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation has sent a team of 600 sanitation workers, six sanitary inspectors and 50 Swachha auto-rickshaws to handle cleanliness and sanitation needs during the jathara. Over 10,000 public toilets and mobile toilets, too, have been arranged by the authorities.

The government is also making plans to set up a 50-bed hospital at the festival site, as also 60 medical camps.