The Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple authorities here have reversed their decision to allow devotees to worship at the temple from June 9.
The administration committee that met on Monday afternoon in the wake of the concerns raised over the opening of places of worship in view of the spurt in COVID-19 cases in the State decided to reverse the decision. As per the new decision, devotees will not be allowed entry till June 30.
The meeting was convened hurriedly amidst reports that other temples preferred to keep their doors shut to the devotees for the time being and following opposition from various quarters to allowing the devotees.
For the past few days, the temple authorities were gearing up for opening the temple to the devotees in a restricted way adhering to physical-distancing norms and the directives issued by the government.
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Temple executive officer V. Ratheesan said the reversal of the decision had been taken by the committee. The committee would meet again in the last week of June to review the situation and take a call.
Offerings come down
The decision comes at a time when the authorities are trying to make both ends meet as the temple’s donations had been hit since the lockdown commenced on March 25. The offerings at the temple, considered one of the wealthiest, that touched up to ₹3 crore monthly had fallen to ₹25,000.
The 10-day Painkuni festival at the temple from March 30 was initially deferred and later cancelled following lockdown.