Coronavirus | Despite lockdown, huge crowd gathers outside temple

‘Many of the devotees lacked awareness, did not wear mask’

Defying lockdown norms, hundreds of devotees gathered outside Badhrakaliamman Temple in Sivakasi for Chithirai festival celebration on Wednesday night.

Even as Virudhunagar district recorded over 7,000 new positive cases since April 1, hundreds of devotees gathered outside Badhrakaliamman Temple in Sivakasi for Chithirai festival celebration on Wednesday night.

A huge crowd gathered outside the temple even as its gates were locked as no devotees were allowed inside temples for darshan in view of the lockdown. The devotees who started gathering around 6 p.m. swelled in numbers around 8 p.m. Social distancing went for a toss and many of the devotees were not wearing mask, according to local sources. Only a limited number of police personnel were posted there.

After the violation of lockdown norms was taken up with Sivakasi Sub-Collector C. Dinesh Kumar, local police forced the crowd to disperse around 8 p.m.

“Despite all the sufferings of the infected people, the devotees still do not have awareness of the danger of crowding,” said a local resident, S. Velmurugan (52).

Display of aerial fireworks was also conducted on the occasion.