Hyderabad: The city devout circumspect on day 1

Hyderabad: After almost 80 days, temples across the city reopened for devotees. Most of the temples witnessed few devotees. Devotees were only allowed to for darshan, no other rituals like 'Archana' or other sevas were permitted.

Anjani Devi, Executive Officer, Ganesh Temple, Secunderabad, said, "Today the footfall was 150 devotees, before lockdown in a day we used to witness around 1,000 devotees on weekdays the number would be double.

"We have taken all protective measures including sanitizers, thermal scanners are carried out in the Temple. Social distancing guidelines are also maintained in the premises," she added.

She adds further, "Since today was Monday and the start of week so that can also be one of the reasons for less footfall. More number of people visit the temple on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday compared to the other days in a week."

Footfalls at Ujjaini Mahakali Temple at Secunderabad witnessed around 730 devotees on the first day. Speaking about the same Annapurna, executive officer at Ujjaini Mahankali Temple said, "Before lockdown in a day around 2,000 to 3,000 devotees used to come here to take blessings and on weekdays it used to go anywhere near 5,000."

"We are trying to follow proper sanitation norms by maintaining social distancing and availability of sanitizers at different points. Currently only darshans are available and we are letting 10 to 15 people at a time after they are scanned by a thermal scanner," she adds further.