Udupi, Jan 10: The traditional 'Paryaya Pravesha' celebrations at the Sri Krishna Mutt in Udupi will be held as scheduled with restrictions in view of the COVID-19 threat, Karnataka Minister for Kannada and Culture V Sunil Kumar said on Monday.

Addressing reporters in Udupi, he said the Swamiji of Krishnapur mutt, who is to ascend the Paryaya seat this year, has also ordered restrictions on the celebrations in public interest. All the programmes scheduled for late night on January 17 will be completed by 9 pm, the minister said.

He said only a limited number of teams will be allowed in the Paryaya procession. Priority will be given to the religious team and a few cultural teams and a limited number of people will be allowed inside the Rajangana, where the programme is to be held.

All the devotees taking part in the Paryaya should have taken two doses of vaccine. Adequate arrangements will be made for the darshan of Lord Krishna.

A direct telecast of the programme has been arranged for devotees to witness the rituals at their homes, the minister said.

Paryaya is a religious ritual which takes place every alternate year at the Sri Krishna Mutt of Udupi when the pooja and administration of the mutt will be handed over for the next two years to the next seer of ashta (eight) mutts.

The Paryaya is distributed among the Swamijis of the Ashta mutts of Udupi by rotation. Each swamiji of every mutt gets the chance to perform puja at the Udupi Sri Krishna temple for a period of two years.

Krishnapur mutt seer Swami Vidyasagara Teertha will take over the administration of the Udupi Sri Krishna mutt from Admar mutt seer Ishapriya Teertha during the Paryaya this year.

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Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman led the statewide pulse polio vaccination drive on Sunday.

While Siddaramaiah kicked off the campaign along with state Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao and Home Minister G Parameshwara at his residence 'Kaveri' here, Sitharaman, who is in Vijayanagara district in the state, holding Chintan Shivir, administered pulse polio drops to children below five years of age in Kamalapura.

"Smt @nsitharaman launched the Polio Immunisation Drive in Kamalapura, Karnataka, reaffirming the Government’s commitment to safeguarding child health and ensuring a polio-free India," a post on her 'X' account said.

The post further said that children under five years of age were administered Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV) drops, "reinforcing the collective effort to protect future generations through timely immunisation."

According to the details shared by the health departments, about 62.4 lakh children have been identified for it.

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"Under the routine immunization programme, every Child is given 5 doses of OPV (Oral Polio Vaccine) and 3 doses of IPV (inactivated injectable polio vaccine) and Government of Karnataka is committed that no child should miss these doses," a government statement said.

Apart from all hospitals in the state, special focus will be given to immunise children living in villages, hilly areas, brick kilns, slums, migrant areas, farmhouses, urban slums. Booths will also be set up in railway stations, metro stations, airports and Seaports, the statement said.

The state health department has set up 33,258 booths and deployed 1,030 mobile teams, 2,096 transit teams, 1,13,115 vaccinators and 7,322 Supervisors.

All children below five years of age will be administered the oral polio vaccine on December 21, 2025.

"Even if your child has received any number of doses of OPV before, it is very essential to immunise your child again during this round," the department said.

In order to allay concerns, the department said the polio vaccine is completely safe and people should not to believe in any false rumours.