Sanitising tunnels, open langars planned for Gurpurab

Sanitising tunnels, social distancing and open langars (community meals) cooked and served with safety measures in place will be part of the celebrations for the 551st Prakash Utsav of Guru Nanak on Monday.

“We have instructed gurdwaras to start langar between 12 noon to 12:30 pm to manage the rush better. Earlier the timings were from 1:30 pm to 2:00 pm during peak rush hours. Around 5,000 devotees can be expected at the big gurdwaras in the city,” said Tara Singh, president, Chandigarh Samuh Gurdwara Prabandhak Sangathan.

Singh, who is also the chairman of the Sector 38 Gurdwara, said they were expecting a big turnout as they had received over 3,000 visitors over Diwali.

Sanitising tunnel in Sector 8

Bhupinder Singh, finance secretary of the Sector 8 Gurdwara, said an automatic sanitiser tunnel had been set up for visitors walking in. The langar hall there, however, will be closed and packaged food handed out to devotees.

Open langar

This time, to prevent transmission of Covid-19 in closed halls, the Sector 34 Gurdwara will be serving food in an open ground close by. “We will put carpets in the park near the market since it is safer to seat people in open spaces,” said manager Amarjeet Singh.

Food will also be served outdoors at the Sector 20 Gurdwara in its parking area, said its president Gurinder Bir Singh.

Glass, fibreglass panels

For the devotees to bow down before the Guru Granth Sahib, the Sector 19 Gurdwara will have a special polycarbonate sheet, which will be sanitised after 10 to 15 minute intervals, said the president of the religious place, Tejinder Pal Singh. Similarly, the Sector 8 Gurudwara will have a glass panel for the devotees, which will be sanitised frequently.