BHUBANESWAR: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) in Puri has requested the state government to conduct a special vaccination drive for its servitors and their family members.
The SJTA said the servitors need to be vaccinated as they are being exposed to devotees, who may be infected, following the withdrawal of the rule to carry a Covid negative certificate for temple entry from Thursday.
Incidentally, Puri reported 23 Covid-19 positive cases on Wednesday, the highest among the 143 total cases of the day in the state, said the government data on Thursday.
“We expect the footfall of a large number of devotees every day as the Covid-19 negative report is no longer required for entering the 12th century shrine. In such a scenario, the sevayats or servitors’ apprehension of getting infected with Covid-19 cannot be ruled out as they will come in close contact with the devotees. We have requested the health department to vaccinate the servitors and their family members on priority basis,” SJTA’s chief administrator Krishan Kumar wrote to the additional chief secretary (health and family welfare department) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra.
The SJTA apprehends that the rituals of the deities may be affected if the servitors contract the infection. The matter was also raised during a recent meeting of Chhatisa Nijog, a confederation of the representatives of different associations of the servitors of the Jagannath Temple. The temple has around 2,100 servitors. At least 480 servitors had tested positive for Covid-19 and 10 of them succumbed to it.
The SJTA chief has also requested the health department to vaccinate at least 500 staff of the temple. “Many of our employees visit the temple several times in a day to coordinate with the servitors for the timely completion of rituals. These temple staffers are also being exposed to devotees,” another shrine official said.
The SJTA said if the government accepts their proposal, the servitors would be requested and sensitized to receive the vaccine for Covid-19. The shrine body said the database of the servitors and their family members is already available.
“We had earlier thought of requesting the government to vaccinate the servitors before discontinuing with the rule to carry a Covid-19 negative report for the devotees. But the first phase vaccination was reserved for exclusively healthcare workers,” a temple official said.