Social distancing will be the ‘mantra’, while traditional practices such as ‘archana’ and giving ‘teertha’ (holy water) will be missing in places of worship in Karnataka when they open for devotees from Monday with a slew of restrictions after almost a three-month long hiatus due to coronavirus lockdown.
Temples, and mosques will reopen on Monday but the church is set to allow its faithful from June 13, giving itself time to sensitise them and parish priests about the guidelines to be followed as part of the fight against the deadly virus.
The state has allowed religious places to open for public in line with the the central government’s guidelines as part of ‘Unlock-1’ and issued standard operating procedure with dos and don’ts, including compulsory face mask for both devotees and priests, thermal screening and barring entry for children below 10 years and elders above 65.
To prevent the spread of coronavirus, the state has specified conditions such as social distancing, no distribution of ‘teertha’ (charanamruta) or ‘prasada’, no temple bells for devotees and a bar on special ‘pooja’.
The temples, mosques and churches have painted social distancing boxes where the devotees will have to stand in queue and wait for their turn, wile masks have been made mandatory for all, including priests. They have also arranged sanitisers, santiser tunnels and thermal screening guns.
(Source: PTI)