Pune: As a preventive step against Covid-19 (coronavirus) infection spread, authorities at religious places, including Sai Baba temple at Shirdi, have decided to keep the premises close for devotees at least till the end of March this year.
The trusts managing temples responded positively to request by chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to close down the premises. Thackeray on Monday had urged religious places to voluntarily take a call to prevent the virus infection from spreading.
The prominent religious places closed from Tuesday till next week are Bhimashankar’s Jyotirling temple, Gajanan Maharaj temple at Shegaon, four Ashtavinayak temples in Pune district and Dehu’s Tukaram Maharaj temple.
Mohan Rathod, Shirdi Sai Sansthan’s public relation officer, said, “The temple is closed from Tuesday itself and an official statement will be released soon.”
Sanjay Gawande, Bhimshankar’s temple trustee said, “We are planning to close the temple today [Tuesday] as per the instructions given to us.” In Pune, Dagdusheth Halwai temple has already announced closure till the end of this month and Mumbai’s Siddhivinayak temple has also taken a similar call.