The Panguni Uthiram chariot and foot procession, which is part of the annual Panguni Uthiram festival, will be cancelled this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The festival, slated for April 6, is celebrated by Hindus and held in honour of the Hindu god Murugan.

Devotees usually bear kavadis, pull chariots or carry milk pots, as they walk about 1.2km to seek blessings and fulfil their vows. The temple management committee at the Holy Tree Sri Balasubramaniar Temple in Yishun decided to scrap the procession this year, citing coronavirus clusters which came about at large gatherings in crowded settings, including places of worship.

The committee had discussed alternative options but found it "difficult to organise a scaled-down procession", said temple chairman Narainasamy in a statement yesterday."In addition, maintaining social distancing among devotees and keeping contact tracing records will be very challenging. In arriving at this decision, we took the view that the health and safety of our devotees is paramount."

Every year, the Panguni Uthiram chariot and foot procession draws 10,000 to 15,000 devotees who gather in close proximity to one another, both along the procession route and in the temple. The procession takes place within Yishun Industrial Park A, where the temple is located.

For this year, priests will still conduct prayers on the day, but limit the number of devotees in the temple to not more than 250, said the committee.

The decision comes after the Government implemented social distancing measures on Friday as a major line of defence in the battle against the outbreak. The measures involve not having more than 250 attendees at large private functions and religious services.

Staff and priests at the temple already have their temperature checked twice daily, but from today this will also be extended to devotees who visit the temple.

The committee will also limit to 250 the number of devotees in the temple at any given time.