Most large places of worship across country to remain shut

Most large places of worship across country to remain shut

Haridwar, Char Dham To Open After A Week, But Entry Only For Locals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

01.06.2020

A day after the Union home ministry’s “Unlock 1” plan provided the green signal for places of worship to reopen on June 8, Uttarakhand was the only state to officially spell out on Sunday that all major religious destinations like Haridwar and Char Dham would open their doors after a week but restrict entry to the local population for a start.

“We will chalk out how many people can be allowed inside each temple every day and other security measures later in the week,” minister and Haridwar MLA Madan Kaushik said.

In Bengal, churches and gurdwaras have been allowed to reopen from Monday with not more than 10 people inside at a time.

A directive on temples and mosques will be issued later, officials said.

Most large places of worship across the country look likely to remain shut for longer – either voluntarily or because of state-specific measures overriding the central unlock plan –even as some have tentatively announced they will reopen on June 8 without waiting for the respective governments to specify the way forward.

In Maharashtra, the Shirdi and Siddhivinayak temples and Mumbai’s Haji Ali Dargah waited all day for word on whether they would be allowed to reopen before the state government came out with a “Mission Begin Again” strategy that does not include places of worship for now.

Assam’s ancient Kamakhya temple, which hosts the crowd-puller Ambubachi Mela in June-end, decided on Saturday itself to remain closed till July, irrespective of the state government’s call on the Centre’s guidelines. Puri’s Jagannath temple, shut since March 20, won’t reopen before July either, which effectively means the annual Rath Yatra that draws lakhs of devotees will be an unusually quiet affair this year.

“Our temple managing committee has decided that the shrine will be shut to devotees till July 4. The state government will soon take a final decision whether or not to host the nine-day Rath Yatra from June 23. The temple committee has proposed to the state government to hold the Rath Yatra without participation of devotees in view of the pandemic,” temple administrator (development) Ajay Kumar Jena told TOI.

Smaller temples, churches and mosques might get permission to reopen next week, sources said.

In AP, the state government’s decision to reopen or keep the Tirumala and Tirupati temples closed for a few more weeks won’t be known until next Thursday, said a senior official in Hyderabad.

Gujarat will decide on reopening major places of worship such as the Somnath and Akshardham shrines only after receiving a detailed SOP from the Centre, deputy CM Nitin Patel said.

Full report on www.toi.in

HANDS OF THE FAITHFUL: A woman praying outside Dargah Hazratbal, which has been sealed as part of Covid-19 lockdown measures, in Srinagar