The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) closed all the 137 temples and monuments under its control in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana with effect from Friday till May 15. This step has been taken to break the COVID-19 chain. While there are eight monuments in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh has 129 monuments/museums/forts or temples controlled by it.
The Director Monuments N.K. Pathak in a communication from the ASI New Delhi office has said that the monuments and temples would be closed till May 15 in view of the second wave of COVID-19 spreading across many States in the country. A decision will be taken on or before May 15 depending on the situation then and fresh orders issued then, he added.
The Bugga Ramalineswara Swamy temple and the Chintala Venkataramana Temple at Tadipatri in the Anantapur district have gone out of bounds for the devotees from Friday with this new order coming into force. The number of devotees thronging other temples under the control of the Endowments Department is very large.
Recently, large crowds were seen at Srisailam and Kadiri Rathotsavams before and after Ugadi in the past 15 days and none either wore masks or adhered to COVID-19-proper behaviour despite requests from the Health Department officials.
