Rajasthan: Stricter rules to rein in virus spread during Navratri, Ramzan | Jaipur News

JAISALMER: As Navratri starts from Tuesday and Ramzan from Wednesday, administration has imposed restrictions in view of the increasing Covid cases in the state.
A few famous temples have been shut down during Navratri as per the order, while at few famous temples, the devotees can come but with restrictions. Strictness at Ramdevra temple has been increased and all devotees will be sanitised on entering the temple. In Bikaner, the famous Karni Mata temple has been shut down by the district administration in consensus with the temple managers. The devotees can do the ‘darshan’ via the LED screens put up outside the temple.
Similarly, during the month of Ramzan, starting from Wednesday, Bikaner district administration held a meeting with the minority community, who agreed to offer namaz from home.
At Tanot Mata temple in Jaisalmer district, many restrictions have been imposed on those entering the temple. Jaisalmer BSF north DIG Arun Kumar Singh said that at the Tanot Mata temple, which is being looked after by the BSF, looking at the coronavirus cases, has issued special directions for Navratri, starting from Tuesday. No devotee will be allowed to enter the temple without wearing a mask. Sanitisers will be used in the temple and special arrangements have been made so that there is not much crowd in the temple.
He said that the ‘darshan’ of Tanot Mata can be done keeping social distancing. During Navratri, the ‘bhandara’ has been cancelled and only halwa as prasad will be distributed to devotees.
Jaisalmer district collector Ashish Modi said that all temples of goddesses and other temples in the district have been directed to follow the Covid guidelines. Apart from this, all departments’ officers have been instructed to ensure compliance with the protocol, with regard to religious festivals.
On the other hand, looking at the increasing cases in Bikaner, district collector Namit Mehta and representatives of the leading temples held a discussion at the collectorate conference hall. Temples’ representatives said that looking at the increasing cases, there is a danger of further spread of the infection due to the large number of devotees coming to the leading temples in the city. As a preventive measure, banning entry of devotees in leading temples in the city, arrangement of online ‘darshan’ or ‘darshan’ on big screens at temple premises could be done. The temple representatives have agreed to ban entry of devotees during Navratri, and the Karni Mata temple at Deshnok and other temples will remain shut down, for which orders have been issued.
On Sunday, the Bikaner district administration led by collector Namit Mehta held a meeting with the imams and maulvis of leading mosques in the city. District collector called upon the Muslim community to take steps during the month of Ramzan, so that it could help in arresting the spread of the virus, to which the community responded positively.