Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B. Rupesh issued an order on March 17 cancelling all temple ‘sevas’ in the district with immediate effect as a precautionary measure taken to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The devotees are allowed to have only darshan and not allowed to stay in temples, till further orders, she said.
Dakshina Kannada has some well-known temples which attract a huge number of devotees especially during the summer. Some of them are Kukke Subrahmanya temple, Kateel Durgaparameshwari temple, Dharmasthala Manjunatha temple, and Mangaluru Mangaladevi temple.
With the Deputy Commissioner’s order, the ‘sarpa samskara’ and ‘ashlesha bali’ sevas in Kukke Subrahmanya temple performed by many devotees from Karnataka and outside the State stand cancelled.
The order said that only the temple staff should participate in the annual “jatras” (fairs) and the participation of other people in general has been restricted. People should not enter the temples, churches and the mosques in groups, she said.
According to the order, no summer camps, seminars and conferences should be organised now. It said that the entry of people to the beaches has been restricted and marriages should be organised simply by ensuring that they are not crowded.
The order said that if the students staying in hostels and paying guest accommodations wanted to return to their homes they should be allowed.
