The Odisha government has asked the authorities of the major temples to prepare an action plan on the reopening. This comes after the High Court asked the state to open the temples in a graded manner after assessing the situation. The state government will only allow those shrines to reopen where following all COVID-19 guidelines is feasible.
In consultation with the stakeholders, the committees have to submit the report, as directed by the Chief Secretary. District collectors have been notified over the issue of reopening.
Though the centre allowed the reopening of religious institutions in its Unlock 5.0 plan, Odisha is yet to permit the same to prevent the spread of the virus.
Opposing the closure in the state, the priests, devotees beat gongs, rang bells and blew conches for nine minutes from 9 AM on Wednesday in front of their respective temples.
Meanwhile, the intervention of the high court came while dealing with two writ petitions that asked to extend financial relief to priests of registered temples for the lockdown period. The petitions were filed by a priest of Dadhibaman Dev temple of Nayagarh district and an organisation of priests from the same district.
“The livelihoods of temple priests have been hit hard due to closure of temples since March. Most of the priests are going through severe financial constraints. They have no alternative to earn their livelihood. Our families are suffering. We had requested the government but no one addressed our issues. That is why we had to ring bells and blow conches to draw the attention of the government towards our plight”, said a member of Odisha Mandira Sebayata Sangha (OMSS).
Raising concerns on the reopening plan, Kamalakanta Badu, Secretary of Badu Nijog, Lingaraj Temple, said, “The infection may further increase if devotees will be allowed into the Lingaraj Temple. If the servitors will be infected with the virus, the rituals of deities will be disrupted. Although the servitors have been suffering financially due to closure of the temple, the entry of devotees needs to be restricted until normalcy returns”.