Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam conducted a trial run with its employees on Monday. The devasthanam authorities have plans to throw open the temple to devotees for darshan from Wednesday (June 10).
Endowments Minister Velampalli Srinivasa Rao, devasthanam Chairman Pyla Somi Naidu, Executive Officer M.V. Suresh Babu, and others were present.
The Minister said: "Darshan is being resumed in a totally new environment necessitating several safety measures. Several measures against the spread of the COVID-19 virus are being taken."
The devotees would have to wash their feet and hands and enter the maha mandapam queue line for darshan. The temple has put sanitiser stands at various places. The body temperature of each devotee would be checked before they enter the queue line, he said.
Slot booking
The devasthanam has made arrangements for darshan of 250 devotees per hour in each queue line. The devotees can book a slot for free darshan or ₹ 100 ticket darshan, he said.
The temple authorities will conduct the trial run again on Tuesday to try out the new system. The 'antaralaya darshan' has been cancelled. Other darshan timings are from 6 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. and again from 12.30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Also, the devotees will not be allowed to prepare pongal and offer the same to the presiding deity. The priests will neither offer 'setarai' or 'theertha' to the devotees visiting the temple.