As the country continues to see a rise in coronavirus cases amid the Omicron scare, thousands of devotees thronged Ranganathaswamy Temple in Trichy’s Srirangam on the occasion of Paramapadham Gate opening ceremony on Tuesday.

Srirangam Ranganathaswamy temple is considered the most important of the 108 Divya Desams of lord Vishnu. This year, devotees in thousands thronged the temple as they were not allowed to attend the ceremony in 2020 due to Covid-19 restrictions.

SOCIAL DISTANCING GOES FOR A TOSS

The opening of Paramapadham Gate or Sorgavasal (Gate to Heaven) takes place on the 10th day of the 21-day Vaikuntha Ekadashi festival.

As thousands of devotees gathered at the temple, social distancing went for a toss, raising concerns of Covid cluster formation.

Meanwhile, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao also visited the temple to offer prayers with his family. This was his second visit to Srirangam. Earlier, he visited the temple in May 2019.