The just concluded 12 day Godavari Pushkaralu witnessed more than 25 lakh devotees in Rajahmundry alone. This sea of devotees in turn led to the flourishing of trade in the historic city. According to the local trade and district authorities, close to 250 crore transactions are estimated to have taken place during the event, while the overall expenditure is valued at 1600 crores.
The Maha Pushkaralu was a huge hit among the pan shops, departmental stores, cloth stores, hotels and lodges, tea stalls and breakfast parlours, which witnessed a huge number of devotees spending huge amounts during their travel and stay throughout the Pushkaralu. The authorities are estimating that each devotee must have spent at least 200 rupees towards his Pushkaralu expenses.
Coming to the reverence rituals at the Pushkar ghats and the Koti Lingala Revu, close to 55 lakh devotees offered Pinda Pradhanam at all the Pushkar ghats in Rajahmundry, whereas the number mounted up to 22 lakhs at just the Kotilingala Revu, which led the priests amass huge amounts as dakshina and the nearby stalls made a decent buck thanks to the devotees buying puja goods expenses.
This aside, even the transport corporation and the Indian Railways too made huge profits in terms of tickets, toll gate charges and VAT on diesel and other means.