Amaravati: No processions will be allowed for Ganesh festival

Amaravati: Endowments minister Velkampalli Srinivas urged the people to follow the Covid-19 Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) while celebrating Vinayaka Chaviti in order to prevent spread of Covid-19.

The government has already instructed temples on procedures to be adopted on darshan and other rituals. He said in a statement on Wednesday that the physical distancing norms must be followed during the Chaviti celebrations. No processions will be allowed at any point of time, even during the immersions. The government already instructed the officials concerned to ensure that there were no processions and mass gatherings in the name of festival, he added.

Srinivas suggested that people celebrate the festival at homes for this year, as the pandemic had affected the lives of everyone. He also asked devotees to worship idols below 2 feet and immerse them on the festival day itself the nearest water bodies.

According to the minister, both endowments and private temples will allow only 10 persons at a time into the temple for worship, even on festival day. At the same time, he announced that the government would celebrate the festival at all the temples as per regular practice.