Kurukshetra sadhus eagerly look forward to opening of temple doors

Due to closure of religious places amid Covid-induced lockdown, priests, sadhus and shopkeepers were struggling to make both ends meet

The temple priests, pandas, sadhus, shopkeepers, and devotees of Kurukshetra are eagerly waiting for June 8, when the temples of the holy city will reopen after being closed to the devotees for more than two and half months.

The temples of the holy city will reopen after being closed to the devotees for more than two and a half months.

Ramji Lal, a sadhu, said, “I have never faced such difficulties in my life. Hundreds of sadhus here have been living hand to mouth as the temples were closed and people could not come out from their homes to do any charity.”

Reacting to the arrangements made by the government to feed the needy, he said, “They only provide free food to ration or Aadhar card holders. But we are sadhus, we don’t have any identity cards. We survive only on the charity of people.”

It was also a tough time for over 120 pandas living in the vicinity of Sanhit Sarovar as their earnings plummeted to negligible levels.

“In the past two months, I have earned only ₹1,100 from Yajman (customer). It was very difficult for us to manage as I used to earn above ₹25,000 per month earlier,” said Panda Sehal Mishra.

“Let us see how people react to the government’s decision to reopen religious places,” he added.

People, who run eateries and religious paraphernalia shops outside the temples said that they were eagerly waiting for June 8 but were not sure whether as many devotees will turn up now.

“Since the morning, I have sold only three cups of tea and one samosa. It will take about six months for this situation to normalise,” said Virbhan, a 62-year-old tea vendor at Brahm Sarovar.

Amarjit Singh, who sells religious paraphernalia outside the Badharkali Temple, said, “For the past two months, I have been unable to pay rent for my shop and house as my earnings were badly hit owing to the closure of temples amid the lockdown.”

“My shop is my only source of income. I am facing difficulties in feeding my family of five,” he added.

Shivani, who sells books and idols of Hindu deities at Brahma Sarovar, said, “We are the biggest victims of this lockdown as we have not been able to earn anything in the past two months.”

She added, “With the number of cases on the rise, I don’t think the devotees will take the risk to come to temples.”

NO DIRECTIONS FROM DIST ADMN

Even though the ministry of home affairs has allowed the state governments to reopen religious places in non-containment zones, most of the priests and shopkeepers fear that restrictions on the movement of devotees may continue.

They have yet not received any directions from the district administration in this regard.

“We know that the union government has allowed us to reopen temples but we don’t have any permission from the district authorities yet, let’s see what they decide upon,” said Karan Dhiman, a clerk at Tirupati Balaji temple.

When asked about the plans to reopen the temples, Kurukshetra deputy commissioner Dhirender Khadgata said, “Proper guidelines related to the movement of devotees in temples will be issued as per the directions of the government.”