Medaram Sammakka Saralamma Jatara begins in seven days
MEDARAM: With seven days left for the Sammakka Saralamma Jatara, the state government has stepped up arrangements to ensure the festival is held smoothly. The four-day jatara will be held from January 28 to 31, with officials expecting over 1.25 crore devotees to attend.
₹251 crore allocated for 2026 jatara
Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has allocated ₹251 crore for the 2026 Medaram jatara, the highest-ever allocation in the festival’s history. Of this, ₹100 crore was spent on developing the Sammakka and Saralamma gaddelu premises with works designed to last at least another 100 years. The chief minister and his cabinet dedicated these works to the public on January 19.
50,000 officials and staff deployed
Around 50,000 officials and staff from various government departments have been deployed for the jatara. About 6,000 personnel were assigned for pre-jatara arrangements, 32,000 during the four-day event, and over 6,000 for post-jatara works extending up to seven days.
Held once every two years, the jatara is expected to draw more than 1.25 crore devotees. Officials estimate that 30–35% of devotees arrive before the main days, 60–65% during the jatara, and around 3–5% after it concludes.
To manage the crowd, the Medaram jatara area has been divided into eight major administrative zones and 42 sectors. Each zone is headed by a district-level officer, with a senior assistant officer as assistant zonal officer. Mandal-level officers have been appointed as in-charge of each sector.
The Temple–Chilakalagattu area has been designated Zone 1, housing the master control room, Medaram protocol office, temple entry and exit points, missing persons camp near the gaddelu, media centre and emergency response teams. The RTC bus stand–Reddigudem area forms Zone 2, with bus alighting points, mess facilities and accommodation for officials and staff. Zones 3 and 4 at Stupam and Kotur include missing persons centres, overall monitoring teams and shuttle bus services. Urattam, Shivaram Nagar, Padigapur and Narlapur form the remaining zones with necessary arrangements in place.
21 departments handle civil, non-civil works
Civil and non-civil works related to the jatara are being handled by 21 government departments. Around 2,000 National Service Scheme volunteers and Adivasi youth are participating voluntarily in the management of the festival.
Enhanced network and communication facilities
To ensure uninterrupted mobile connectivity for the massive gathering, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Airtel and Jio have made special arrangements. A total of 27 permanent mobile towers have already been set up, along with 33 wheel-mounted cell towers and 450 very high frequency communication sets.
The release was issued by the Special Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Department.
