India has for the moment decided to open up its business and other public places to resume normalcy. West Bengal too has declared that from 8th June,2020 the lockdown will be withdrawn, with all the public places and offices going back to their normal course and reopening in full swing. The Dakshineswar Kali temple in Kolkata has opened its doors to public from 11th June on wards and will resume its operations.
Maintaining the strict guidelines of COVID crisis which is still latched on to the country, the temple and its administration has come up with several rules and guidelines when it comes to allowing visitors inside the campus.
The Dakshineswar Kali temple is one of the most sacred temples and the “Garba Griha” houses an idol oF Godess Kali, standing on the chest of Lord Shiva. Every year thousands of pilgrims come to this temple only to catch the glimpse of this “Garba Griha”.
The temple doors will be open from 7am to 10am in the morning. Visiting hours has been changed to 3:30 pm to 6:30pm in the afternoon only. Beyond and before the visiting hours, no visitors shall be allowed within the campus. The main temple doors will close 20 minutes after the entrance door closes. Not a single visitor will remain inside the premises. As per the preventive measures, the temple administrators are taking proper precautionary measures to ensure that the safety is maintained. Each visitor will have to undergo a thermal screening process and visitors with temperature more than 98.6 degree will be denied entry keeping in mind the safety of them and the others. Watches, bags and other belongings are to be deposited at the security counter.
After this, the visitors will have to entire into the sanitization room to sanitize themselves before they can entire the temple premises. Also as per the Centre’s guidelines, every visitor must follow the social distancing rules and maintain physical distance among each other while entering the temple.
Due to the Covid Crisis the temples of Shri Ramakrishna and other idols will be closed for visitors. Once the Puja preparations begin, there shall not be any crowds inside and people will stand at safe distance and worship idols. After the puja is over, they will have to leave the premises one after the other without flouting any norm or rules.
The Trustee and Secretary of Dakshineswar Kali Temple Kushal Chowdhury has specified the set of rules and regulations for the visitors who are going to visit the temple from 11th june onwards. The temple has finally reopened after a couple of months when it was closed during the lockdown but is now ready to open its doors keeping in the mind the safety and protection of the temple, visitors and the priests.
