Bezawada.co.in

The much-awaited showers finally graced the city on Friday bringing down temperatures slightly. A little drizzling was observed during early hours of the day, but the temperatures went up as usual. While there were traces of clouds early in the day, there was no respite from the searing heat.

The people experienced sweltering heat, till evening. But by late evening, there were enough indications of rain and the people were not disappointed.

The rain and gale hit the city around 7 p.m.

This is the second spell of rain to hit the city after two weeks. The people experienced intermittent rains when Laila cyclone was formed in Bay of Bengal couple of weeks ago.

The temperatures, then, came down bringing cheers to the people. However, there was a sudden rise in temperatures, and they hovered between 40 and 44 degrees Celsius.

The district witnessed the first spell of pre-monsoon showers on Friday evening bringing respite from gruelling heat conditions that prevailed during May. While Guntur received sporadic showers, other towns like Bapatla and Tenali received moderate to heavy rainfall.

The showers lasted for nearly for an hour lowering the temperatures slightly.

For those in Guntur, the showers were a welcome respite from oppressive heat conditions prevailing for over 10 days.

The summer of 2010 is turning out to be slightly different.

The day temperatures recorded in May were the highest in a decade, until the cyclonic storm Laila struck the coast.

For three days, as the storm pounded the coastal villages in Guntur and Prakasam districts, the city was drenched by rains. But soon after the storm dissipated, temperatures shot up sharply forcing the people to stay indoors.

The evenings were no different as warm winds kept blowing throughout the night.

The pre-monsoon showers were an indication that the south-west monsoon might keep its date and set in the state by June 6-8. The normal monsoon is set to trigger agricultural activity in the district.

The Department of Agriculture has already set an ambitious target of raising paddy in 2.86 lakh hectares, followed by cotton in 1.67 lakh hectares and chilli in 61,000 hectares.

The department has already released the kharif plan and set to distribute seeds.

Treasure hunters continue to vandalise the few archaeological marvels at the historic 14th century Kondaveedu Fort, even as the District Administration has initiated a comprehensive development plan to uplift the dilapidated fort and make it into a major tourist attraction.

The mystique surrounding the fort and fables of boundless wealth buried underneath continues to draw treasure hunters, who have been digging away mercilessly, desecrating the few remaining archaeological remains inside the fort.

The district administration which has unveiled a grand blueprint to develop the fort, shares the blame for not being able to take minimum measures to protect the fort. Part of the blame lies squarely on the local villagers, for failing to bring to the notice of police acts of vandalism.

Kondaveedu Fort Development Convener K. Siva Reddy, who has been on a mission to develop the fort, told The Hindu that unidentified miscreants have vandalised the historic Gopinadha Temple, commonly known as ‘Kattula Bavi'. The walls of the temple have been breached and gaping holes are visible across the wall.

Though there is no historical evidence to prove it, legend has it that the temple was built in the 16th century by Sadasiva Rayulu, who was the king of Vijayanagara Empire.

“We fear the other places of interest will be desecrated beyond recognition damaging the remaining portions of archaeological interest in the fort. Local villagers can be motivated to form into ‘Fort Protection Committees', until such time, the Government comes up with a fool proof security systems,'' Mr. Siva Reddy said. A pylon marking the commencement of works at the Fort was unveiled by Endowments Minister Gade Venkat Reddy on April 26 and Iskon has pledged its support to develop the fort, but since then very little has been done on the ground done.