Pilgrim Numbers at Dhapewada Swell, Amenities & Facilities Remain Dreary

NAGPUR, July 19, 2013: Unaffected by the travesties caused by bad weather, hostile conditions and lack of support by local administration, devotees continue to undertake pilgrimages and yatras to temple towns. One such 40km trudge to Dhapewada is undertaken from the city too on the occasion of AshadiEkadashi. The small town is home to a VitthalRukmani temple which has earned the sobriquet of Pandharpurof Vidarbha.

The three days from 'ekadashi' to 'poornima' attract hoards of crowds from all over Vidarbha. "The belief is that Lord Vishnu stays in Pandharpur on 'ekadashi' and arrives at Dhapewada on 'poornima'. So a large number of devotees arrive here on the day of full moon," says Dilip Dhote former member of gram panchayat samiti in Dhapewada.

Leading a group of devotees who undertake the 'wari' or walk to this place every year, Balchandra Kulkarni says that over the years the crowds have swelled but the facilities have shown just a marginal improvement. "We were a group of 22 devotees who started this 'wari' 24 years ago. We thought that since the temple in Dhapewada is so similar to the one in Pandharpur, we too should undertake a 'wari' to this place on 'ekadashi'."

It is a 250 strong group of men and women which now goes to Dhapewada from the city. It takes them 12 hours to cover the distance, with a three hour halt at Kalmeshwar. "All along the way starting from the temple in Dharampeth, to the Upasani Maharaj ashram at Katol Road, the private homes of farmers in Fetri and Kalmeshwar, people take care of us and offer us food, snacks and water," says Chanduji Manjare, a regular with this 'dindi'. The devotees return by public transport after a detour to Adasa.

But Manjare bemoans the lack of facilities at the temple town. "We carry a van loaded with stuff for preparing dinner at Dhapewada, where we stay in a school. But there are no arrangements for hundreds of devotees who come there for darshan," he says.

Facilities have to be upgraded and improved to prevent the place from getting messed up by hundreds who have started arriving here for darshan, agrees Dhote. "The devotees use river Chandrabhaga for washing and cleaning. The administration should make arrangements to ensure that it does not get polluted," he says. "There is a need to develop the ghats and create something akin to Kolhapur 'bandhara' (weir) to augment the water in this river," says Dhote.

"The lack of sanitation facilities is creating problems now as people defecate in the open. This creates problems for us. If we are not careful the feet can get soiled," says Manjare. "The ashram behind the temple is very small and cannot accommodate the large number of people who have started visiting this small village. Its time the administration took cognisance of this and created some infrastructure too," says wari pramukh Kulkarni.

Source: The Times of India, DT. July 19, 2013.