All hotels in Kumbakonam full

While several lakhs are expected to turn up for the festival and the lodging facilities in Kumbakonam already saturated, people have already started making their bookings in cities like Thanjavur. 

When DTNext contacted a few leading hotels in and around Kumbakonam, they informed that bookings for accommodation were made almost two months in advance. “We still get enquiries for accommodation especially for the dates ahead of the ‘Theerthavari’ festival,” an executive at Rayas Lodge in Kumbakonam said. In this backdrop, a few devotees have already started complaining about overcharging by lodging facilities in Kumbakonam. 

“Even budget hotels that normally charge Rs 800-Rs 1,000 per night are charging almost double the rate and people from far off places are left with no other option but to take these rooms,” Dinesh Kumar, a techie from Chennai, who has made his plans to visit the Mahamaham festival said. 

Officials at the Mahamaham cell in the Thanjavur Collectorate said, “We will take the issue of fleecing by unscrupulous elements seriously and appropriate action will be taken.” 

Meanwhile, devotees who thought of making a booking at Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation’s Hotel Tamilnadu, Thanjavur are also a disappointed lot. 

“Thanjavur district administration has already reserved all the 32 rooms of the hotel,” a staffer with Hotel Tamil Nadu.

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Friday chaired a meet to review the arrangements for festival. Cabinet Ministers and top ranking officials drawn from various government departments attended the meeting that was held in the Secretariat on Friday.