Noida’s Iskcon temple opens doors for devotees after four months

After being closed for almost four months, the Iskcon temple in Noida opened its doors for the public on Thursday.

After being closed for almost four months, the Iskcon temple in Noida opened its doors for the public on Thursday.

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Places of worship in Gauatm Budh Nagar had closed on March 18 in light of the coronavirus pandemic. However, following state guidelines under unlock 2.0, the district administration had allowed them to open from June 8 and had directed them to follow social distancing norms. However, the Iskcon temple, located in Sector 33, had remained closed and is open now.

The temple has, however, restricted entry of devotees to four hours. “The temple opened today (Thursday) after more than 110 days of lockdown. The timings have been restricted to only four hours per day – two hours in the morning (10 am to noon) and two hours in the evening (4.30 pm to 6.30 pm). Devotees coming to the temple would first have to register themselves on our online portal and will be permitted to come inside the temple premises on as per the slots given to them online,” said Ekant Dham, spokesperson of the temple.

The spokesperson said as per state guidelines, only five people are permitted inside the temple at a time. Devotees won’t be allowed to enter without face masks, and sanitisation measures have also been taken up at the temple. “There is a sanitisation tunnel at the entrance to the temple, and a small pool of water has been created for the worshippers to rinse their feet before entry. Barricades have been erected to keep people from crowding and maintain social distancing norms,” said Dham.

In addition, facilities for sanitising hands have also been set up in addition to markings on the floor to ensure social distancing at all times. All the devotees are required to install the Arogya Setu mobile application.

Children below the age of five and people older than 65 years of age will also not be allowed entry to the temple as they belong to high-risk category groups.