Puri: Nearly after two years, the devotees are allowed to have darshan of Lord Jaganath and his siblings at Srimandir here on Sunday. After the outbreak of Covid-19, the temple was remained closed for the general public on all Sundays for sanitization of the temple premises.
Now, in view of the significant decline in COVID-19 cases across the nation and improvement in the pandemic situation, Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) has taken this decision to allow entry of devotees into the 12th-century shrine on Sundays. Now the sanitization will be done during the night and not by closing the temple.
The decision in this regard was taken at the last meeting of the Chhatisa Nijog, the apex body of servitors. The devotees are paying obeisance to deities from the time of opening of Singhadwara (Lion’s gate) in the early morning till pahada’ (closure of the door) every day.
Though the restrictions on devotees have been withdrawn, visitors need to follow the Covid appropriate behavior such as wearing masks, maintaining social distance, and hand sanitization while visiting the temple.
This decision has come as huge relief for the devotees, especially those who are employed in different government and private organizations. Usually, as Sunday is a holiday for them, the employees visit Puri for have darshan. Due to the restrictions, such employees were unable to get a glimpse of Lords, said a temple official.
Earlier, devotees required double vaccination certificates or RTPCR-negative reports obtained within 72 hours for entering the temple. This restriction was also lifted last month.