A total 16,106 people turned up at Mansa Devi temple to pay obeisance on the first day of the Navratra Mela on Saturday.
As per the Shri Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board, devotees started coming in 5am onwards. “The rush this year was less as compared to previous years as online appointments were made necessary to visit the temple. Everyone was wearing a mask and all efforts were taken to ensure social distancing,” said the CEO of the Board MS Yadav.
Speaker of Haryana Vidhan Sabha Gian Chand Gupta was among those who visited the temple on Saturday. However, some said social distancing was not maintained properly owing to the large number of people gathered on the premises.
Around ₹23.79 lakh in cash were offered, almost double the amount that was offered on the first day of the fair last year. Five gold nugs weighing 13.532 gram and 61 silver nugs weighing 1071.1 gram were also offered by the devotees.
The temple’s scheme to provide a prasad of dry fruits by post was also received well. The prasad was available in packets of 100 gram for ₹101 and 200 gram for ₹151. Devotees spent ₹20,200 on 100-gram prasad packets and ₹19,700 on 200-gram ones.