Vijayawada: Sakhambari festivities at Durga temple from today

Vijayawada: The annual Sakhambari celebrations performed during the Ashada Masam every year will begin on Friday at the Durga temple atop Indrakeeladri hill. The Durga temple administration began preparations for the three-day festivities and several tons of vegetables shifted to the temple. The presiding deity will be decorated with the vegetables and leafy vegetables as part of the Sakhambari celebrations. The temple staff have already started the decoration works and are expected to complete by Friday morning. Devotees will be allowed for the Darshan from 6 am onwards from Friday and festivities will conclude on Sunday.

The temple administration is implementing unlock .02 rules and the devotees will book tickets online for special pujas. All devotees must wear masks and temperature is checked at the entrance of the temple. The temple administration has cancelled Rs 300 tickets. Only free darshan queue line and Rs 100 ticket queue lines are permitted. Only 300 devotees will be allowed per hour and sanitization works continues from morning to evening in the queue lines and other places in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. All the temple staff attended the Covid-19 tests recently.