Priests offer 'Pancha Haarati' to Krishna river at Vijayawada's Durga ghat

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], September 19 (ANI): Priests offered 'Pancha Haarati' on Friday to Krishna river at the Durga Ghat here. 
Similar to Ganga aarti, 'Pancha Haarati' is performed for rivers -- Godavari and Krishna -- in Andhra Pradesh.
While offering prayers and performing the special ritual, the priests were seen keeping the COVID-19 guidelines of wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing, and avoiding crowded places.
The Durga temple Trust board chairman Paila Sominayudu and Executive Officer MV Suresh Babu were among the attendees.
The program had come to a halt months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. However, now, it has been restored but keeping the guidelines issued by the central and state government in mind.
From today onwards, the program will be performed at 6.30 pm every day. However, devotees will be allowed only in a limited number in the wake of the pandemic.
The sale of online tickets for Dasara celebrations at the Kanaka Durga Temple in Vijayawada also began on Friday. A total of 10,000 devotees would be permitted at the celebration per day. Usually, 80,000 to one lakh devotees throng the temple in the Dasara season. But the numbers are expected to drop in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
As per the latest update by the state health department, the state has a total of 6,09,558 COVID-19 cases. (ANI)