Devotees can visit temples now, but with lot of caution

Devotees can visit temples now, but with lot of caution

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

 Bangalore 06.06.2020

With the virus keeping devotees away from religious places, it’s now time for the muchawaited darshan as restrictions are eased from Monday. Most popular shrines in the country are set to open, albeit with a lot of caution.

The Mahakaleshwar temple in Ujjain will open its doors on June 8 after being shut for 79 days. But devotees can’t just walk in. They have to book a slot via an app or a toll-free number a day in advance. “Devotees will be allowed to visit the temple between 6.30am and 8.15pm,” said S K Tiwari, assistant administrator of Mahakaleshwar Temple Management Committee, after a meeting on Friday. They will launch the app and helpline in time for people to start making bookings on Sunday.

However, devotees will not be allowed to attend Bhasmarti ritual or enter the sanctum sanctorum.

The Lord Venkateswara temple at Tirumala will also reopen on June 8 with unprecedented precautions. There will be a trial run from June 8 for two days in which only Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanams employees will be allowed. On June 10, TTD will allow only Tirumala residents. From June 11, devotees from across the country except from containment zones will be allowed. Only 6,000 devotees will be allowed per day with 500 devotees every hour.

Although the UP government will allow religious places to open from June 8, prominent shrines have different plans for unlocking. So while Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi will open on Monday, temple managements in Mathura have said they can't open until they get police protection. In Ayodhya, the famous Hanumangarhi will open on Monday and devotees can also resume darshan of Ram Lalla.

Prayagraj’s Bade Hanuman temple prepares to open Monday

Devotees to be barred from touching idols, holy books

Directions were issued by the state government on Friday that all religious places should have hand sanitizers, thermal scanners and pulse oxymeters at the entrance so that devotees can be scanned for temperature or low oxygen levels.

Nobody will be allowed to touch any idol or religious book inside the place of worship while no prasad will be distributed either.

In Odisha, those wanting to visit the Jagannath temple in Puri will have to wait longer with the temple managing committee proposing to the government to close the 12th century shrine till July 4.In Thrissur in Kerala, while nine marriages were held at the Guruvayur Temple on Friday, the temple is unlikely to be opened for Monday. Temple authorities said they would require more time to make arrangements, including preparation of crowd control plan.

Meanwhile, the Kerala unit of the Indian Medical Association on Friday opposed the opening of places of worship and malls.

Uncertainty also looms over famous annual yatras.

After priests at Badrinath wrote to the Uttarakhand CM to postpone the Chardham yatra for pilgrims till June 30, locals in the area have also called for measures “to keep the Char Dham free of Covid-19.”

Initially, Chamoli, Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag districts – which house the four revered shrines – had not reported a single Covid case. But the number has gone up after the migrant labourers began to return.

As uncertainty hovers over the annual Amarnath Yatra, the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board performed ‘Pratham Pujan, the first religious ritual. Board CEO said the yatra will be commencing but for a short period as compared to previous years.

Shrines across Maharashtra will not open on June 8. No date has been fixed by the state government either