There was a lot of chaos as Tirupati Balaji opened for its devotees and they were permitted to enter the temple. Recently, the entry of devotees to Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple has been banned till October 15 after 10 persons, including the leading priest and assistant chief priest of the temple, tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. With some supporting staff and two guards of the temple too testing positive, the concerned temple administration decided to limit the entry of pilgrims from Friday. The joint chief priest was the first to test positive. Tantri Tharanallur Satheesan Namboodiripad will perform pujas in the meanwhile, as per the information given by temple chief executive officer V. Ratheesan.

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The executives are confident of unlocking the temple to adherents on October 16, a day before the idols of Goddess Saraswati from Padmanabhapuram Thevarakkett, Kumaraswamy from Velimalai Murugan temple and Munnuttinanga from Sthanumalayan temple in Suchindram arrived at the Navaratri mandapam in front of the temple for Navaratri celebrations. The 10-day Alpashi festival is programmed to begin on October 15 and the Tantri and the temple authorities will have to take a call on it.

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The 10-day Painkuni festival, scheduled to start on March 30 and deferred due to the spurt in COVID-19 cases, was held from September 10 in a low-key manner. Five security commandos, a police officer in the technical wing and three employees had tested positive for SARS-COV-2 in July. The temple, which was out of bounds for devotees from March 21 following the pandemic-induced lockdown, opened on August 26.

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