Assam: New SOP allows fully jabbed devotees to enter temples

GUWAHATI: The buzz of devotees is set to return to temples in Assam as the new government SOP released on Tuesday has allowed those who are fully vaccinated to enter places of worship.
The famous Kamakhya temple will see footfall after three months of closure. Other religious places are also expected to come alive with the presence of devotees.
The state government on Tuesday also withdrew the inter-district travel ban, except to and from state capital Guwahati.
"At Kamakhya temple in Guwahati, Siva Doul in Sivasagar and all other iconic religious places in the state, upto 20 fully vaccinated persons per hour have been allowed, while the same number has been restricted to 10 per hour for other religious places," said health minister Keshab Mahanta.
The Kamakhya temple management welcomed the temple reopening decision as thousands of people across the state were rendered jobless for months due to Covid restrictions.
"We started parikrama around the Kamakhya temple but that was not enough to bring back normalcy for people involved in business activities in the vicinity of the temple. There will be no special pass to enter the temple in the next few days. But we are hopeful that more relaxations will be given soon," Doloi (president of the Kamakhya Temple Trust Board), Mohit Chandra Sarma, told TOI.
The average daily collection at Kamakhya has been to the tune of Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh. But sources in the temple management said that this collection, which mostly came from donations and special entry passes, has significantly declined since the outbreak of the pandemic last year. The monthly expenditure of the temple management is around Rs 40 lakhs.
But most importantly, restoration of inter-district vehicular movement is a landmark decision taken by the state government. Though public transport between districts will remain suspended, inter-district movement of private vehicles and movement of people has been allowed, except to and from Kamrup (Metro) district.
The new SOP will remain in force with effect from 5 am on Wednesday until further orders. Night curfew will now be from 7pm to 5am across the state.
All places of work, business and commercial establishments, dine-in restaurants, hotels, resorts, dhabas and other eateries, takeaway of food items from restaurants, dhabas, opening of sales counters and showrooms of cold storages and warehouses, shops dealing with groceries, fruits and vegetables, dairy, milk booths and animal fodder will be open up to 6 pm.
In another major move, the final year offline classes of medical, nursing and engineering courses have been allowed. Mahanta, however, said that both teachers and students must get vaccinated.
"Physical classes of the final year of graduate / post-graduate engineering/medical colleges, GNM, nursing courses and that of Aeronautical Engineering College may be allowed to be started with fully vaccinated students," read the SOP.
Meetings and gatherings in open or closed spaces have been allowed up to 200 people (open spaces) and up to 50% of the hall capacity or 200 fully vaccinated persons, whichever is lower in closed venues.
In airports, passengers who have received both doses of vaccines and also have a ‘recent Covid negative certificate’ won't have to undergo testing again, Mahanta informed.
For functions related to national or international days, the ceiling will be upto 50% capacity of the hall. Also, public gatherings are allowed up to 25 persons for marriage and funeral programmes. But cinema and theatre halls will continue to remain closed.
All government servants who have taken at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine have been asked to attend office. Private sector entities have been given the liberty to decide on attendance rules.