BHUBANESWAR: The Puri Jagannath Temple, which had been shut during the weekend in view of the Covid pandemic, will allow public for darshan on Saturdays from next week.
The 12th century shrine will remain shut only on Sundays to ensure cleaning and disinfection of its premises. The temple administration has also decided to extend the daily darshan time for two more hours from 7am-7pm to 7 am-9pm from Monday.
“We have revised the standard operating procedure (SOP) after assessing the Covid situation. The weekend closure of the temple has been partially lifted. Darshan will be allowed on Saturdays whereas the temple will remain closed on Sundays. Since the revised SOP will come into force from next week, the temple will remain shut on September 11 and 12,” a senior temple officer said.
The administration said RT-PCR negative report obtained 96 hours before the temple visits or Covid vaccine final dose certificate is still compulsory for devotees to ensure smooth entry to the shrine. The officials said there is no immediate plan to lift the restriction.
Sources said around 2,000 devotees from the state and outside have been denied entry to the temple in the last 10 days for not carrying RT-PCR negative reports or double dose certificates.
“Besides Sundays, we will close the temple on major festivals like Biswakarma Puja, Kumar Purnima and Dussehra in September-October,” the temple officer said.
Shut since April 24, the temple opened its doors in a staggered manner to servitors and their immediate families on August 12 and 13. Subsequently, only the residents of Puri urban locality were allowed inside the shrine from August 16 to 20.
The temple reopened for all on August 23. Altogether 1,29,174 devotees have caught a glimpse of the deities inside the temple so far from August 23. The temple administration said at least 51,334 devotees from the Puri municipality area offered prayers in the shrine between August 16 and 20.
