Puri Jagannath Temple may reopen in mid-August

BHUBANESWAR: The officials of the Puri district administration on Sunday said it may take them at least two weeks to be ready to welcome devotees to the Jagannath Temple. They are scheduled to hold a meeting with the district administration officials on August 4, following which they are likely to make the announcement of the final date for the 12th century temple’s reopening.
This comes a day after the state government authorised the district collectors to take a call on the reopening of places of worship in their jurisdictions after assessing the Covid situation. The government separately asked the district collectors of Puri and Khurda to hold discussions with the Jagannath and Lingaraj temple administrations, along with the other stakeholders, before reopening the two popular shrines in Puri and Bhubaneswar.
“We will take time to dismantle the three giant chariots, which have been parked in front of the temple after Rath Yatra ended a few days ago. Once that’s done, a huge shed will be set up outside the temple to allow the devotees to stand in queues. The shed was removed during Rath Yatra. This apart, we will subject the servitors to RT-PCR test before the temple repopens for devotees,” a senior district official said.
Though the Puri temple has been shut for devotees since April 24, the daily rituals are being performed by the servitors. In the wake of Covid outbreak last year, the government had closed Jagannath temple for devotees on March 20, 2020 and reopened on December 23, 2020 only for servitors and their family members. Devotees from Puri municipality area were allowed darshan from December 26 till 31 before the shrine’s door was opened for all from January 3 this year.
Devotees are upbeat as their wait will end soon. “We were disappointed for having missed many major festivals, especially Rath Yatra in 2020 and 2021 due to the pandemic. Since many people in the state have already been vaccinated, there is no harm in allowing the access of devotees to the temple in compliance with the Covid-safety precautions,” said Chandan Dash, a devotee in Bhubaneswar.