Places of worship in Jalandhar to lay stress on safety measures

Ajay Joshi

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 7

As all religious institutions are set to open on Monday after over two months of the lockdown, arrangements were made today at various religious establishments, including temples, mosques, churches and gurdwaras to contain the spread of Covid.

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While all devotees (excluding children below 10 years, pregnant women and persons above 55 years of age) are allowed to visit religious places to pay obeisance, people entering without masks will be sent back. Besides, none of the visitors would be allowed to say prayers in the ‘sanctum sanctorum’ of any religious establishment.

In view of the Covid-19 precautions, the premises of the Devi Talab Temple was also sanitised today and circles were marked at several places to follow the social distancing norms.

Ravinder Sharma, a supervisor at the temple, said after removing their footwear, devotees would be asked to stand in queues after which they would be sanitised before entering the temple. Thermal scanners had also been purchased by the temple authorities to check the temperature of devotees. Anti-germ soaps had also been kept in washing areas.

The temple for the first time will entertain only 20 devotees at one time. In the past, on a daily basis around 20,000 people used to visit the temple and on special days, the count of visitors touches almost one lakh, Sharma said.

“As only a limited number of people would be allowed to say the prayers at once, tents have also been erected at open grounds to accommodate visitors who will wait for their turns there. In addition, offerings inside the temple are also restricted. For zero contact between the visitors, new entry and exit gates have been created,” he said.