Doors of religious places reopen for devotees in Maharashtra

After remaining shut for almost eight months, places of religious worship reopened in Maharashtra on Monday with COVID-19 prevention protocols in place.

Devotees had been seen visiting the well-known Siddhivinayak temple and the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai, and a few of the opposite distinguished religious places in the State.

The reopening of the places of worship coincided with the Diwali ‘Padwa’, which is a crucial pageant in the State.

Early in the morning, devotees had been seen visiting Lord Vitthal’s temple at Pandharpur in Solapur, Saibaba’s shrine in Shirdi, Goddess Tulja Bhavani’s temple in Osmanabad and the Siddhivinayak temple and the Haji Ali Dargah in Mumbai.

The Siddhivinayak Temple Trust’s chairman Aadesh Bandekar on Sunday mentioned only one,000 devotees shall be allowed contained in the temple on daily basis in staggered time slots to be booked via a cell phone software.

Talking to PTI over cellphone on Monday, Mr. Bandekar mentioned, .

“We have received good response today…we are letting in 100 people per hour (to ensure physical distancing). Body temperatures and QR codes of devotees are being checked.”

“The temples access barrier is being opened only if a devotee is wearing mask. A proper system is being followed, he said.

The temple trust will review the situation after two days and may allow more devotees to have darshan of Lord Ganesh based on the assessment, Mr. Bandekar said.

He also urged senior citizens, pregnant women and children — considered as more vulnerable to novel coronavirus infection — to take care of themselves given the situation.

“Senior citizens can download our mobile app, they can get darshan of Bappa live 24X7…hence, they should not hurry (into visiting the temple). Bappa is there to take care of you, but take care of yourselves,” he mentioned.

Bandekar additionally mentioned the belief has not mentioned “no” to senior residents for visiting the temple. “But, it should be avoided given the pandemic situation,” he added.

Body temperatures of devotees had been additionally being checked and their fingers sanitised exterior the Haji Ali Dargah.

As per the usual working procedures (SOPs) launched by the State authorities, religious places positioned out of COVID-19 containment zones have been allowed to reopen as per the timings determined by authorities, and devotees shall be allowed inside in a staggered method.

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday introduced reopening of the places of worship, but additionally cautioned individuals, saying it can’t be forgotten that the “demon of coronavirus” nonetheless persists and referred to as for following self-discipline.

The opposition BJP in the State had been looking for reopening of the places of worship and earlier questioned the Thackeray governments choice to not reopen temples at a time when bars had been allowed to reopen.

The Chief Minister, nonetheless, had defended his choice saying it was tough to comply with bodily distancing on the places of worship.

The problem had additionally led to a stand-off between Thackeray and State Governor B.S. Koshyari, who reminded the Shiv Sena president of his Hindutva credentials and requested if he had turned secular.

Mr. Koshyari’s letter to the Chief Minister was criticised by constituents of the Maha Vikas Aghadi authorities.

Thackeray had mentioned that after places of worship are reopened, guidelines and security protocols need to be adopted strictly, and laid stress on carrying masks.

“If we follow discipline, we will get God’s blessings,” the CM had mentioned.

According to the SOPs laid down by the federal government, solely asymptomatic individuals shall be allowed inside places of worship and carrying of face masks is obligatory for devotees.

The quantity of individuals to be allowed inside such places in a selected time slot shall be selected the scale of the construction and air flow.

Devotees should preserve social distancing, whereas administration of such places should conduct thermal scanning and make obtainable hand wash or sanitisers, in keeping with the SOPs.