Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah visits Hasanamba Temple, prays for peace and harmony

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited the Hasanamba Temple in Hassan on Wednesday to participate in the Hasanamba festival.

Accompanied by his Cabinet colleagues Ramalinga Reddy, Transport Minister; Krishna Byre Gowda, Revenue Minister; and other representatives, he offered prayers to the deity.

The temple has been attracting lakhs of devotees since its doors were opened last week. Devotees are allowed to visit the temple only during the festival.

Speaking to presspersons after the deity’s ‘darshan’, the Chief Minister said that he prayed to the Goddess to bestow all the people with the wisdom to love all human beings and help realise Karnataka as a beautiful garden of all religions — as poet Kuvempu called it.

“We are all human beings, and we should love each other. That’s what all religions teach. I prayed to the deity for everyone in the State so that they remain happy and lead a peaceful life,” he said.

This year, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, the State received good rains, and as a result, all the reservoirs were full. Farmers received a good harvest as a result; however, in some parts, heavy rains damaged the crops, causing losses to the farmers, the Chief Minister added. “Crops grown in nearly 12 lakh hectares have been damaged. I visited some places where the losses were severe. We have announced a relief for farmers to compensate their losses. Farmers of rain-fed lands would get ₹17,000 per hectare, ₹25,000 per hectare will be provided to farmers of irrigated crops, and ₹31,000 per hectare is alloted for farmers who grow multi-crops,” he stated.

The Chief Minister appreciated the efforts of the district administration in making arrangements for devotees visiting the temple and thanked the elected representatives for their cooperation.

Mr. Byre Gowda, who is also the Minister in charge of Hassan district, said that more than 8.8 lakh people visited the Hasanamba Temple in the last five days, and many among them were women who benefited from the State government’s Shakti scheme, under which they could travel in KSRTC buses for free.

The Minister said that the number of devotees visiting the temple had been increasing day by day. However, arrangements had been made to ensure everyone gets ‘darshan’ of the deity in a short span of time. “In the last year, even when the number of people visiting the temple was half of the current numbers, the devotees stood in the queues for eight to 10 hours. However, this time, despite the increase in the number of devotees, they had ‘darshan’ of the deity within an average of three to four hours. This could be achieved because of the cooperation of elected representatives from all parties, who understood the need to ensure facilities for the common public,” he said.

The Minister said that over 60% of the devotees visiting the temple were women. “Many women in small groups had come from districts in north Karnataka,” he added.

K.M. Shivalinge Gowda, legislator; Shreyas M. Patel, MP; and district officers were present.