Hours after the head priest Ramakrishna Ghanapaati at Vijayawada kanaka Durga Temple succumbed to the deadly coronavirus, the board was hit by yet another major jolt on Friday.
Despite the board’s claims of taking utmost precaution in the temple premises, 18 staff members including the executive officer (EO) MV Suresh Babu tested positive to the viral infection.
As a part of the protocol followed by the death of the priest, officials have conducted corona tests on all the employees while 18 of them tested positive on Friday. The list of infected includes management employees, contractors and others as the health officials started disinfecting the temple premises.
It can be noted that earlier, the EO called for a board meeting while it was decided to continue darshans despite the anticipated increase in footfall in the view of Sravanamasam.
This decision has welcomed criticism while the EO with the support of an MLA was accused of snubbed the instructions of the district collector to shut the temple for devotees.
With almost 18 staff members testing positive pressure piles up on the board members to shut down the darshans for a few days.
