Hyderabad: Huge rush of devotees at places of worship

Hyderabad: With the onset of New Year, people thronged places of worship to offer prayers and seek blessings from the god to make an auspicious start on the day. Temples around the city witnessed huge crowds of devotees since early morning hours.

Long queues were seen at most of the temples such as Birla Mandir, Tadbund's Hanuman temple, Balkampet temple and Ganesh temple of Secunderabad. They waited patiently though it took long to have darshan of the deities. Police were posted to control the crowds. Temples conducted special pujas on the occasion till night on Friday.

"To start the year with on a good note and with hopes that this year will be good for all and will be better than the cataclysmic 2020, we sought blessings of Venkateshwara Swamy," said M Hari Sharma, who visited Birla temple along with his family.

A Sayeesh who visited Balkampet Yellamma temple said, "I came to offer prayers to the goddess and seek blessings of her for success in whatever I do in this year and for a healthy life."

Anjani Devi, the EO of Ganesh temple in Secunderabad, said "We held a special Abishekam and since Thursday night the arrangements were made for it. Also, on Friday we did not close the temple in the afternoon as devotees continued till evening. However, the number of devotees when compared to the previous years was very less."