Ongole: No nod given for installing Ganesh idols

Ongole: Prakasam district SP Malika Garg advised the public to celebrate the Vinayaka Chaviti festival at home by following the Covid regulations and abiding by the orders of the government.

The SP informed that the state government has issued instructions to curb the spread of Coronavirus as the public is celebrating the Vinayaka Chaviti on September 10. She said that as part of the celebrations, the public were not allowed to erect idols in the streets and worshipping, processions, cultural programmes and gatherings in crowds are restricted.

She advised the public to worship the god at their homes with their family members using the clay idols by following the Covid norms and perform the rituals by wearing masks, using hand sanitisers and maintaining the physical distance.

She asked the temple managements to put sanitiser dispensers and thermal screening at the entrances to allow only asymptomatic devotees into the temples. She ordered them to display the Covid precautions prominently on the premises and spread awareness on them by audio and visual clips. The management should manage the crowd properly with specific markings for physical distance, and allow no person without a mask to pass through the entry and exit.

She advised them to arrange for washing hands and feet with soap and water while entering the premises, ensure Covid regulations were followed at parking, shops and stalls near and on the premises of the temples. She also ordered them to restrict the devotees from touching the idols, books or other persons on the premises and avoid distributing prasadam, teertham etc, and make sure the staff maintain norms of sanitation at community kitchens used for annadanam and serving the food.