Puri Jagannath Temple reopens for public

Puri: The Shree Jagannath Temple in Odisha’s Puri reopened for public today after a closure of over nine months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A negative COVID test report is mandatory for devotees visiting the temple for darshan of the deities. They will mandatorily produce the report at a designated kiosk outside the temple. Around 15,000-17,000 devotees are expected to visit the shrine, daily. No one will be allowed to have ‘Mahaprasad’ on the premises of the temple, said Puri District Collector Balwant Singh.

The temple reopened for servitors and their family members on December 23, 2020. Residents of the Puri Municipality were allowed for darshan of the deities from December 26-31, 2020. Expecting rush of devotees, the shrine was closed on January 1 and 2.

General guidelines on account of COVID-19 for all devotees:

1. It is mandatory for all devotees to wear masks at all times, inside and outside the temple.
2. Devotees should sanitize their hands before entering the temple.
3. Devotees should maintain physical distance at all times as per COVID guidelines.
4. Devotees are requested not to touch statues or idols inside the temple.
5. It is prohibited to take flowers/bhoga/deepa inside the temple. There will be big containers placed at the entrance, where such items can be dropped if being carried by the devotees.
6. There will be no lighting of deepa inside the temple by the devotees.
7. There will be no partaking of mahaprasad inside Ananda Bazar and Temple premises.
8. Chewing of tobacco/paan and spitting inside temple premises is strictly prohibited.
9. Parking of vehicles will be done only at Jagannath Ballav Math premises or any other designated place.

Guidelines for all devotees who will be visiting the temple from 03.01.2021:

* Queue system will open from 08.00 AM at Market Chhak.

* All devotees will be required to bring COVID-19 negative certificate (RT PCR/Antigen) of testing done within 96 hours prior to their visit to the temple.

* All devotees will be required to bring their photo ID card like Aadhaar/Voter ID etc.

* Devotees will make entry through the barricade from Market Chhaka till Jagannath Temple office; leave their belongings at the designated place outside the temple; produce their ID proof for verification and follow the COVID-19 guidelines of hand sanitization and thermal screening before entering the temple.

* All devotees will enter through Singhadwara and exit through Uttaradwara.