Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 16: Dharmarth Trust today re-opened all temples of the UT for the public after having observed shutdown of religious places since 20th of March due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
However, the Trust also cautioned pilgrims and devotees to strictly adhere to the safety measures and standard operating procedures issued by the Government to contain the spread of the pandemic.
The Dharmarth Trust manages over 100 temples and religious places across Jammu and Kashmir. Some of these include Raghunath Temple and Ranbireshwar Temple in Jammu city and, Shankaracharya Temple and Mata Kheer Bhawani Temple in Srinagar among several others spread across districts of Jammu & Kashmir.
In a statement issued here today, Vikramaditya Singh, former MLC and Trustee of J&K Dharmarth Trust said that the Trust welcomes the re-opening of temples to the devotees and public after a gap of more than four months. However, he urged that all visitors to the temples to strictly follow all precautions and safety measures.
Vikramaditya said that the Trust has been ensuring regular sanitization of temple premises and hoped that the visiting devotees will extend full support and cooperation to combat this deadly virus.
Mubarak Singh, president of J&K Dharmarth Trust said that the Trust Management and all temple priests have been instructed to ensure strict implementation of the Government instructions and guidelines regarding safety measures and precaution against the spread of Coronavirus.
He added that masks are mandatory to enter temple premises, social distancing will be strictly implemented and only a limited number of people will be allowed entry in the temple at a time. He further said that hand washing and sanitization facilities will be provided at the entry while touching of idols will not be allowed and physical offerings such as holy water or Prasad will not take place.
Meanwhile, the gates of famours shrine of Bawe Wali Mata at Jammu also opened today for devotees. Since early morning, devotees started thronging in small numbers to pay obeisance to the deity. The administration has made adequate arrangements for the devotees to maintain social distancing and hand hygiene. All measures were put in place to ensure safety of the devotees visiting the temple.
Devotees were seen standing in the queue with proper social distancing and wearing face masks. “I used to come to the shrine every week to offer my prayers. I feel blessed to be back on the first day of the reopening of the shrine,” said Kanav Sharma, a devotee while entering the temple premises. The temple premises were echoing with sound of bells and fragrance of ‘Agarbattis’.
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