Kadiam Srihari Slams Centre For Neglecting Medaram

Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Kadiam Srihari today slammed the Centre for failing to accord national festival status to the age-old Medaram tribal festival that is held in honour of Sammakka and Saralamma, and celebrated by a large number of people within and outside the state.

Despite repeated appeals, the Centre was averse to providing national status to the biennial tribal festival which was considered Telangana's Kumbh Mela, Srihari said.

Srihari made these statements in a meeting with officials at a guest house in Bhupalapally where he was reviewing the arrangements made for the festival.

Speaking on the occasion, Kadiam said that with one crore people thronging it, the festival was the second biggest gathering across the nation after the Kumbh Mela of Uttar Pradesh, and that though the state government had repeatedly sought national festival status and funds for it, the Centre had not responded to their demands.

He further said that it was only thanks to the state government's support that arrangements for the festival had fructified. The Telangana government had spent Rs 80 crores for the festival, he said.

Shedding light on the state's preparedness to host the festival scheduled to be held from January 31 to February 3, the Deputy CM said that all the works taken up for providing facilities to the devotees were proceeding smoothly and would be completed latest by January 26.

He also asked officials to speed up works on the tribal museum, and on building Haritha Cottages and erecting tents at the site.