After day-long sanitisation, Kalighat Temple was on Tuesday declared fit to reopen from Wednesday, in keeping with its committee’s announcement last week.
No one will be allowed to enter the garbha-griha or the sanctum sanctorum, where the deity is housed, and will have to offer prayers from outside it. The temple will allow entry in two time slots every day—6am to noon and 4pm to 6.30pm—till further order. The temple committee had to bar entry into the sanctum sanctorum as the space inside was limited and maintaining a distance of at least six feet there was impossible. So the committee members took this decision in its final meeting, where the re-opening date was announced.
Five sanitisation gates have been installed at the five temple doors, though at the moment, only two will be operational. Each masked devotee will pass through the channel and get his/her temperature checked before he/she is allowed entry.
Only 10 people will be allowed on the premises at a time, and the system will be regulated by Kalighat police station cops. They will also ensure distancing norms is maintained in the queue outside and that devotees don’t spend too much time inside . Visitors will enter through Gate 2 and leave by Gate 4. They will have to complete their darshan from the dolmandap outside the sanctum sanctorum; spots have been drawn on the floor where devotees will have to wait for their turn. No flower, prasad or charanamrit would be allowed, said committee vice-president Bidyut Haldar. “If anyone gets a sari for the deity, it will have to be left in designated baskets and pranami will be have to be put in caskets.”
The state has allowed 25 people in a temple at a time but Kalighat is keeping the number to 10. “We will see how we manage before bringing relaxations,” Haldar said.
Source:Times of India
