Places of worship open gates to all, turn into Covid Care Centres

BENGALURU: Places of worship are no longer just a space for devotion and community gatherings -- going beyond these confines, they are turning into places of healing. Cutting across faiths, community halls in Karnataka are being turned into Covid Care Centres to help the local populations.

As the number of Covid cases continues to surge, the State endowment department is offering to open all community halls located next to temples to treat patients. The Wakf Board, too, has turned Haj Bhavan into a CCC.

Endowment Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary said they have informed DCs to utilise community halls. To begin with, the Sabha Bhavan next to Kukke Subramanya Temple in Dakshina Kannada will be developed into a CCC, where an oxygen unit will be included. “As all our temples are closed for the public, our community halls can be utilised for treatment,” he said. The endowment department runs over 34,000 temples.

A department official said this service is for the people, irrespective of caste and religion. “All Class A temples have big community halls and can be used for Covid treatment,” he added.The Wakf Board and minorities department, too, have asked DCs to utilise their space as CCCs. In Bengaluru, Byatarayanapura MLA Krishna Byregowda helped set up a CCC at Haj Bhavan with a 140-bed high oxygen flow facility.