Considering the rise in COVID-19 cases in Mumbai and other parts of Maharashtra, the city's famous Siddhivinayak temple has decided not to give on-the- spot permission to devotees for taking darshan of Lord Ganesh from March 1, its office-bearers said on Friday.

Only those who have registered themselves online, will get a chance to take darshan, and only 100 such devotees will be allowed inside the temple per hour from next month, they said. Talking to PTI, Priyanka Chhapwale, chief executive officer of the Shri Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust said that at present, devotees who have not registered themselves for darshan, are given QR code on the spot, which allows them to go inside the temple. "But we have decided to stop this system completely from March 1.