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After remaining closed for 77 days, doors of religious places open amid precautions in Ludhiana
In place of ‘parsad’ and charanamrit, priests at temples were armed with sanitisers and infrared thermometers and were seen blessing devotees from a distance
After remaining closed due to lockdown for 77 days, doors of various religious places were opened to devotees on Monday with social distancing.
In place of ‘parsad’ and charanamrit, priests at temples were armed with sanitisers and infrared thermometers and were seen blessing devotees from a distance.
At majority of the places, main sanctum sanctorum was locked to prevent the people from touching idols or sacred books.
Circles were drawn at Jama Masjid in Field Gunj to ensure social distancing among people. Shahi Imam Maulana Habib Ur Rehman Sani Ludhianvi, after offering the afternoon namaz, said, “We have to maintain distancing today, so that we can embrace each other tomorrow.”
However, ‘karah parsad’ continued to be served in gurdwaras across the city.
The government guidelines do not allow serving ‘kadah parsad’ and langar at religious places, but gurdwara authorities, including president of Dukh Niwaran Gurdwara near Jagraon Bridge in Field Gunj Pritpal Singh Pali, stated that serving ‘kadah parsad’ is part of rehat maryada (code of conduct) of the Sikh faith. Pali said all necessary safety measures were,however, being taken.
“We are following government guidelines while maintaining the rehat maryada of the Sikh faith. There is minimal human contact involved in preparing ‘karah parsad’. Besides, those involved in the distribution of ‘parsad’ are also wearing mask and gloves and using a ladle to serve ‘pardas’,” said Pali.
At Sant Bhuri Wala Mandir near Bharat Nagar Chowk, the sanctum sanctorum of the temple was locked.
“We have not opened the sanctum sanctorum to prevent people from touching the idol of the saint. Besides, we have deployed security guards to check temperature of the devotees visiting the temple,” said a sewadar at the temple.
ENTRY WITH TOKENS AT DURGA MATA MANDIR
The management of Shri Durga Mata Mandir near Jagraon Bridge has introduced a novel way to maintain social distancing by initiating a token system so that a limited number of people could enter the temple at a given time.
Sanjay Mahindru, general secretary of Shri Durga Mata Mandir Trust, said they were allowing only 20 devotees inside the temple premises.
At least, 250 devotees visited the temple on Monday, while normally, the number of visitors goes up to 5,000, and 15,000 on Tuesdays.
Most of the devotees bowed their heads on main gates of temples instead of going inside. Pouring of water or milk on ‘Shivlings’ was prohibited.
Shri Nav Durga Mandir, Sarabha Nagar, received a footfall of only seven devotees from 6 am to 8 am. The devotees were not allowed to bring ‘parsad’, flowers, milk from outside and asked to enter the premises empty- handed.
Inspector Jarnail Singh, SHO at Division number 8 police station, said the police had already passed on the instructions to managements of religious places. The police kept a tab outside these places to maintain social distancing among the devotees.
