Bhubaneswar: The Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) Wednesday said from Thursday devotees would not require to furnish the Covid-19 negative reports to enter the temple premises.
SJTA Chief Administrator Krishan Kumar said a few changes would come into effect from Thursday and they include entry to the temple without the mandatory Covid-19 negative certificates. He also assured people that adequate arrangements have been made in the temple city for the pilgrims.
State law minister Pratap Jena claimed from Thursday onwards darshan of the Trinity would be hassle-free. “From Thursday onwards, the darshan of the Trinity is going to be hassle-free as the mandatory requirement of furnishing a Covid-19 negative certificate has been done away with. Arrangements have been made to ensure that a total of 30,000 devotees can have darshan on a single day.”
The SJTA on the eve of Thursday said all possible civic amenities have been reviewed and arrangements made accordingly. Kumar said keeping in view clear skies and escalating hot afternoons, arrangements have been made to facilitate smooth entry of devotees.
“We have made adequate arrangements for devotees to have darshan of the Trinity from Thursday. We have arranged adequate drinking water, sanitiser and other amenities. We had a meeting today with the concerned officials to chalk out the action plan. In Badadanda, arrangements have been made for drinking water for 24 hours on both sides of the road,” the SJTA Chief Administrator said.
Kumar also said that the temple administration would keep the temple premises closed for Sunday for sanitisation purpose. He also said that the timing for the darshan has been amended too from Thursday.
“For the residents of Puri, they can have darshan from 6 am to 7 am and for the general public, the gates will open from 7 am. We have arranged two LED screens for better information to the devotees,” he said. Till now, the temples gates used to open from 8 am.