PURI: The district administration has come out with a standard operating procedure (SOP) to ensure smooth entry of devotees into Sri Jagannath temple for darshan from December 23 to 31. Only the residents of Puri will be allowed darshan of the Trinity for eight days after the temple reopens. On Friday, Puri Collector Balwant Singh said all devotees living in 32 Wards of Puri municipality would be given tokens by Swachh Sathis. The sanitary workers would embark on a door-to-door visit and prepare a list of devotees in each Ward.
Each day, devotees from four Wards would be allowed entry into the temple. Devotees over 65 years of age would be discouraged from having darshan of the deities. The devotees would enter through Simhadwar and exit through any of the other three gates. All devotees have to obtain Covid-19 negative certificate issued within 48 hours by the administration prior to their temple entry. No offerings of flower, Tulsi and other items would be allowed inside.
Devotees would go through the barricades raised along the Badadanda from Marichikot Chowk in nine queues in adherence to the social distancing norm and wearing face masks. They would also need to sanitise their hands at the temple gate before entering temple.If this system works smoothly, the number of devotees seeking entry into the Srimandir would be increased from January 3, Singh said.
The Collector acknowledged the cooperation of Puri residents with the district administration in implementing Covid-19 restrictions in the town, right from closure of Sri Jagannath temple for devotees from March 20 to organising Rath Yatra without participation of devotees to contain the spread of coronavirus.