Social distancing to be ‘mantra’ as places of worship open for public in Karnataka
BENGALURU: 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.
Places of worship have remained shut for public since March 24 when the first phase of national lockdown was enforced.
The state government has allowed religious places to open for public in line with the Centre's guidelines as part of Unlock-1 and issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) with do's 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.
In a bid to prevent spread of coronavirus which has affected over 5,000 people in the state, it 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' or 'archana'.
Accordingly, 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.
"We have been directed not to organise special pooja. We will not give any teertha or prasada. There will be sanitisers at the entry points. There will be thermal screening too," Krishna, Executive Officer of five-century-old Vasanta Vallabharaya Temple at Vasantapura here, told PTI.
N Srinivas, a priest of a temple at Halasuru in the city, said devotees will come, pay their obeisance and leave.
"There will be no congregation, no sitting inside the temple and no special prayers. People will have to come, bow before the deity and leave," he said.
Mosques in Karnataka have also taken precautions to keep off the virus.