PURI: Around eight lakh devotees visited the Srimandir and Rs 12.8 crore was collected from the hundi in November, shared sources in the Shri Jagannath Temple on Tuesday. People mostly from outside Puri visited the 12th-century shrine despite restrictions for visitors in the holy month of Kartika due to Covid concerns. The highest single day hundi collection stood at Rs 28 lakh on November 13, the sources said.
In October, the district administration had appealed to people observing the Kartika brata not to come to Puri. Anticipating a rise in cases due to large gatherings, it had also closed all government facilities for visitors like last year. And despite the closure of the temple for devotees on every Sunday and festive occasions like Kartika Purnima, the number of visitors to the shrine was significantly high in November.
However, considering the downward trend in Covid cases, the temple administration in its latest SOP extended the timing for daily darshan by two hours from 7 am till 9 pm and allowed partaking of the Mahaprasad at the Anand Bazaar.