Visakhapatnam: Anna Prasadam resumes at Simhachalam temple

Visakhapatnam: For those visiting shrines, savouring 'Anna Prasadam' gains equal significance as having a darshan at the temple.

Owing to the coronavirus pandemic, the Anna Prasadam distribution had come to a halt in all prominent temples from March last year.

Since then the temples remained closed the doors for the devotees. Two months later, darshan was resumed at major temples followed by a two-day trial run.

With the coronavirus positive cases receding, footfall in the temples has seen a steady rise in the recent past.

Endowments Commissioner in-charge T Chandra Kumar directed the temple authorities to resume distribution of Anna Prasadam as the pandemic situation is less severe in the state.

In Visakhapatnam, Sri Varaha Lakshmi Narasimha Swami Devasthanam Trust Board members held discussions before making a final decision on resuming such service.

As a part of the day one of the distribution programme, 500 people were given away 'prasadam'. However, based on the rush visiting the temples, the count varies.

During pre-Covid times, minimum 2,500 pilgrims used to be served prasadam at Simhachalam on week days. But the count used to be doubled during weekends.

However, six months after the temples opened its gates for the devout, the poor and the middleclass families who came from far-flung areas expressed dissatisfaction over the closure of the 'Annadanam' service. Keeping this in view, the service resumed from Thursday. Since the prasadam distribution was disrupted for months, some of the NGOs and charitable trusts volunteered to serve prasadam at Simhachalam.

Simhachalam Devasthanam Executive Officer D Venkateswara Rao flagged of the service and about 500 people received the offering on the day one. Further, the EO mentioned that more number of people will be served in the coming days.