BHUBANESWAR: The
Puri administration on Monday said servitors of the
Jagannath Temple, their family members and residents of the town need not show Covid-negative reports to enter the shrine for
darshan.
The temple, which has been shut since March 20, is scheduled to reopen on Wednesday after nine months. Only servitors and their families will be allowed to catch the glimpse of gods
Jagannath and Balabhadra and goddess Subhadra for three days from Wednesday. Residents of Puri town (municipality area only) will be allowed darshan from December 26 till December 31. Servitors and their families will also be allowed in the temple during those six days. The shrine will then remain closed on January 1 and 2, 2021, and devotees from everywhere will be allowed in from January 3.
“We have made it mandatory for non-Puri residents to show Covid-negative reports of tests done within 48 hours of shrine entry. But this is not mandatory for servitors, their families and Puri locals. They just need to carry their Aadhaar or voter ID cards for verification,” Puri collector Balwant Singh said.
The administration has decided to adopt a stringent system to prevent non-Puri residents from entering the temple between December 26 and 31. “Like at airports, we will have multiple checking counters outside the temple. Nine lanes have been created near the temple to allow Puri devotees to come in queues to the checking counters. They will be asked to show their identity proofs. Each of them will be photographed for a database,” Singh said.
Every day, darshan will start at 7.30 am and continue till the night, when all the rituals are completed. While Puri town’s population is around 2.5 lakh, the district administration plans to grant entry to 15,000-17,000 people per day for the six days from December 26. Residents of different wards will be given entry slips and specific schedules to visit the temple.
We will reserve one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening for Puri town residents after January 3 when the temple will be thrown open to devotees from outside, Singh said.
Police and temple officials will be mobilized to ask devotees to leave immediately after having darshan. Devotees will not be allowed to purchase and eat mahaprasad at Ananda Bazar inside the temple. Mahaprasad will be available through a token system outside the temple.