This year too, the Aadi Perukku celebrations turned out to be a low key affair in Tiruchi on Tuesday.
The district administration had imposed a ban on congregation of public to perform rituals and take a holy dip in the Cauvery in view of the gradual rise in COVID-19 cases.
The Amma Mandapam bathing ghat at Srirangam, where locals usually turn up in large numbers on Aadi Perukku, wore a deserted look on Tuesday.
City police barricaded the mandapam and the pathway leading to the bathing ghat as a preventive measure to prevent the public from entering the spot.
Barricades were also erected in front of pathways and other bathing ghats along the Cauvery.
A team of police personnel was deployed in front of Amma Mandapam to ensure that residents did not congregate there. A few who came in the morning to Odathurai and Thillai Nayagam bathing ghats to perform rituals were advised to leave in view of the ban. However, some of them went to other places near the Cauvery to perform rituals where there was no police presence.
Police sources said teams were deployed at Vathalai, Mukkombu, Thiruparaithurai bathing ghat, Mutharasanallur and Kambarasampettai bathing ghats along the Cauvery and the Coleroon.
A few newly wed couples and others who came to the bathing ghats in Jeeyapuram sub division were politely advised about the ban, the sources added.
On Aadi Perukku, people offer worship to the Cauvery and perform special pujas at various bathing ghats as a mark of thanksgiving to the river which ensures their prosperity.
BJP holds protest
Meanwhile, a group of BJP cadre staged a road roko in the morning for an hour in front of Amma Mandapam bathing ghat demanding that the public be allowed to perform rituals. They later dispersed following talks with the police.