Medaram gears up for Sammakka-Saralamma Maha Jatara, Pagididdaraju procession begins from Ponugondla

HYDERABAD

With the biennial Sammakka-Saralamma Maha Jatara set to begin in Medaram on Wednesday, the traditional Pagididdaraju procession began from Ponugondla village in Gangaram mandal of Mahabubabad district on Tuesday.

After performing customary rituals, tribal priests from the Penaka clan of the Koya tribe started escorting the deity Pagididdaraju, the husband of presiding deity Sammakka, towards Medaram with great ceremonial fervour, and the procession is likely to reach Medaram by Wednesday evening.

Since morning, the village reverberated with chants as Koya tribals, dressed in traditional attire, conducted special prayers before the deity was taken out in a grand procession towards Medaram, about 60 km from Ponugondla, in the SS Tadvai mandal.

Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister Danasari Anasuya Seethakka, who participated in the rituals and offered special prayers, said that all arrangements had been fully put in place for the smooth and hassle-free conduct of the Maha Jatara, considered Asia’s biggest tribal congregation. The Jatara is likely to draw about 3 crore people, mainly tribals, from different parts of the country.

The Minister in the presence of District Collector TS Divakara inaugurated the newly constructed queue lines and sheds for devotees at the shrine at Medaram.

According to officials, 4,000 RTC buses are already operating in anticipation of heavy pilgrim traffic. Large numbers of devotees are already arriving to offer prayers ahead of the main festival days.

Drawing inspiration from crowd management strategies used at major religious gatherings like the Kumbh Mela, experts studied movement patterns at Medaram and proposed route improvements. To ensure safety, security, and efficient crowd management, the Telangana police, under the TG-QUEST project, deployed multiple advanced AI-based systems to support bandobast operations and public safety services.

For the first time, a geo-tag-based missing persons tracking system, modelled on the Sabarimala system, is being introduced. Children and elderly devotees will be registered at counters on the Pasra and SS Tadvai routes and issued QR-code-enabled geo tags.

“In the event of separation, the tags can be scanned to access registered details, facilitating quick identification and reunification. The system is being implemented keeping in view that nearly 30,000 people were reported missing during the previous Jatara and subsequently traced,” Mulugu SP Sudhir Ramnath Kekan said.

CM inaugurates renovated shrine complex

On January 19, Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy inaugurated the newly renovated shrine of Sammakka and Saralamma at Medaram. The gaddelu of Sammakka, Saralamma, Govinda Raju and Pagididda Raju were constructed at a cost of Rs101 crore, while the State government had sanctioned a total of ₹251 crore for the overall development and arrangements.

Roads leading to Medaram have been widened to four lanes; queue lines and watchtowers have been upgraded, and other facilities improved. Parking facilities have been expanded considering the arrival of large number of vehicles.