Religious places and the places of worship have been allowed to open from tomorrow (June 8) as per Phase 1 of the Unlock 1.0 announced by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). "In Phase I, religious places and places of worship for public, hotels, restaurants and other hospitality services, and shopping malls will be permitted to open from June 8, 2020," said the MHA in its order.
The Ministry has also issued certain preventive measures to avoid the spread of the novel coronavirus pandemic. Mandatory usage of sanitizer dispensers and thermal screening provisions, using face cover/masks, staggering of visitors, proper crowd management in the parking lots and outside the premises and maintain physical distancing of a minimum of 6 feet at all times when queuing up for entry are some of the measures to be taken.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, preparations were underway at various religious places and the places of worship for its opening from Monday. Preparations were underway at Hanuman temple near Connaught Place in Delhi, Badrinath temple in Uttarakhand, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram and Bengaluru's Jamia masjid.
However, despite MHA's orders, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra government is yet to take a decision on opening religious places for devotees.
"A decision is yet to be taken on opening temples, mosques, churches and other religious establishments for people. There has been no decision so far on allowing people to gather at such places, Maharashtra's law and judiciary department secretary Rajendra Bhagwat told PTI.
Aadesh Bandekar, chairman of the Shree Siddhivinayak Ganapati Temple Trust in Mumbai told PTI, We have not received any communication from the state regarding opening of the temple. A meeting of the temple board is scheduled in the coming week."
"The trust will announce its decision once the state government issues fresh directives. We are currently creating facilities for maintaining social distancing once devotees are allowed to visit the temple," he said.
(With PTI inputs)
