Religious places to reopen in HP from Sept 10

SHIMLA: Religious places, including temples, will reopen in Himachal Pradesh from September 10, the state cabinet decided in a meeting held here on Friday.

The meeting was presided over by chief minister Jai Ram Thakur.

The language, art and culture department will issue the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for opening the temples and measures to be taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

Temples in Himachal were shut for public on March 17 in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

There has been a demand from the public to reopen temples. The state has some major shrines including Naina Devi, Baba Balak Nath, Chamunda, Bajreshwari Devi, Jwalamukhi,

Baijnath and Chintpurni.

Registration for people entering state to continue till Sept 15

The cabinet has also decided to continue with the registration process for people entering the state till September 15. The registration system was put in place for monitoring and contact tracing of Covid-19 cases.

It also decided to reduce the quarantine period for people coming from other states from 14 days to 10 days.

The district administration have been asked to strictly enforce the use of masks and social distancing.

The cabinet also decided to provide wheat flour and rice to the income tax payee Above Poverty Line (APL) Consumers under the Public Distribution System as earlier. Pulses, edible oil, salt and sugar will also be given on actual rates.