Places of worship reopen in Maha devotees visit temples

    Mumbai, Nov 16 (PTI) Places of religious worship in
Maharashtra, which were shut since the imposition of COVID-19
lockdown in March, reopened on Monday with devotees visiting
some of the prominent temples and shrines in the state.
    The reopening of the places of worship coincided with
the Diwali 'Padwa', which is an important festival in the
state.
    Early in the morning, devotees were seen visiting
Lord Vitthal's temple at Pandharpur in Satara, Saibaba's
shrine in Shirdi, Goddess Tulja Bhavani's temple in Osmanabad
and the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai.
    The Siddhivinayak temple's chairman Aadesh Bandekar on
Sunday said only 1,000 devotees will be allowed inside the
temple every day in staggered time slots to be booked through
a mobile phone application.
    As per the standard operating procedures (SOPs)
released by the state government, religious places located out
of COVID-19 containment zones have been allowed to reopen as
per the timings decided by authorities, and devotees will be
allowed inside in a staggered manner.
    Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced
reopening of the places of worship, but also cautioned people,
saying it cannot be forgotten that the "demon of coronavirus"
still persists and called for following discipline.
    The opposition BJP in the state had been seeking
reopening of the places of worship and earlier questioned the
Thackeray governments decision to not reopen temples at a
time when bars were allowed to reopen.
    The chief minister, however, had defended his decision
saying it was difficult to follow physical distancing at the
places of worship.
    The issue had also led to a stand-off between
Thackeray and state Governor B S Koshyari, who reminded the
Shiv Sena president of his Hindutva credentials and asked if
he had turned secular.
    Koshyari's letter to the chief minister was criticised
by constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
    Thackeray had said that after places of worship are
reopened, rules and safety protocols have to be followed
strictly, and laid stress on wearing masks.
    "If we follow discipline, we will get God's
blessings," Thackeray had said.
    According to the SOPs laid down by the government,
only asymptomatic people will be allowed inside places of
worship and wearing of face mask is mandatory for devotees.
    The number of people to be allowed inside such places
in a particular time slot will be decided on the size of the
structure and ventilation.
    Devotees will have to maintain social distancing,
while management of such places will have to conduct thermal
scanning and make available hand wash or sanitisers, according
to the SOPs.
    Local authorities can further add any directions to
these guidelines taking into consideration local conditions.
    Footwear should be preferably taken off inside
vehicles, the guidelines said.
    Touching of statues, holy books, idols is not allowed
and large gatherings continue to remain prohibited.
    In view of the potential threat of spread of the
coronavirus infection, only recorded devotional music should
be played, and choir or singing groups are not allowed, as per
the SOPs.
    Among other guidelines, common prayer mats should be
avoided and devotees should bring their own prayer mats or
pieces of cloth, which they can take back with them.
    Physical offering of 'prasad', distribution or
sprinkling of holy water is not allowed.
    Floors at places of worship should be cleaned multiple
times in a day, and community kitchens and 'langars' should
follow physical distancing, the guidelines said.
    Effective sanitisation of the premises should be done
with a particular focus on lavatories, and hand and foot
washing stations.
    Workers at places of worship will have to undergo
pre-joining and weekly COVID-19 tests for highly exposed
groups, as per the SOPs. PTI ENM
GK GK

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)