9-day Dasara festival set to begin atop Indrakeeladri on October 7

Vijayawada: Strictly following the Covid guidelines, only 10,000 devotees would be allowed per day into Sri Durga Malleswara Swamy temple during the nine-day Dasara celebrations that will be held from October 7 to 15. The district administration decided to strictly follow the Covid guidelines and restrict the devotees. Krishna District Collector J Nivas discussed the arrangements with the officials on Saturday and took important decisions for the smooth conduct of festivities strictly following the Covid guidelines.

Temple Trust Board chairman Pyla Sominaidu and executive officer D Bhramaramba addressing the media conference here on Saturday said only 10,000 devotees would be allowed into the temple for the darshan of Goddess Kanaka Durga every day. They said 3,000 tickets of Rs 100 and another 3,000 tickets of Rs 300 will be sold online per day. Besides, free darshan will be allowed to 4,000 devotees every day. They said the permission will be given only online.

On the first day, devotees will be permitted from 9 am to 10 pm and the remaining days the darshan timings are 4 am to 10 pm. On Mula Nakshatram day darshanam timings are 3 am to 11 pm. Sominaidu and Bramaramba informed the media that tickets will be available online on https://aptemples.ap.gov.in .

They said current booking counters will be arranged near VMC office, toll gate of Ghat road, Punnami Ghat for the convenience of devotees, who could not get tickets online. Three queue lines will be arranged from Vinayak temple. Besides, one additional queue line will be arranged from Om Turning point for free darshan and one VIP queue line.

They said two separate queue lines will be arranged for the entry and exit during the Dasara festivities. Thermal checking is mandatory and sanitisation will be made regularly at the queue lines and other places. They said other arrangements like water proof tents, drinking water and illumination will be ensured at the important places for the convenience of devotees. Parking facility for vehicles will be provided near Model Guest House and the State Guest House for the convenience of VIPs.