Kolkata: Two Kali temples, Belur eye devotees’ return

KOLKATA: Dakshineshwar temple has prepared reopening guidelines and will conduct trial runs between June 8 and 10 with a limited number of 60 devotees, who will be called in by invitation. If successful, the temple will reopen thereafter. Kalighat temple, on the other hand, is likely to reopen on June 15. Belur Math and all branches of Ramakrishna Mission will open their doors for public on June 15.

At the entry point of Dakshineswar temple, sevaks will check if a devotee is masked before his temperature is thermal-scanned. Only those whose temperatures are within the permitted range will be allowed to walk in after a mandatory hand-sanitizing at the disinfectant channel. All the time, a prescribed gap is to be maintained between two devotees. Sevaks will monitor the line.
“We are installing disinfectant channels that will only sanitise hands and not the entire body because we have been pre-warned about the harmful effects of the chemicals on human body. We will even have children among our visitors and hence we cannot risk their safety,” said Kushal Chowdhury, spokesperson of the Dakshineshwar Temple Trust.
The temple will not remain open from 6am and 9pm like earlier times. It will open around 7am for two-and-a-half hours. It will again open in the evening for a similar span of time. “We will have to allow our sevaks time to cool off because they will otherwise suffocate wearing the PPE constantly,” Chowdhury said. Devotees will not be allowed to enter any of the smaller temples or Ramkrishna Paramhansa’s room, but will have to stay contended with darshan from outside till the situation improves.
Kalighat temple authorities said that since space is a constraint inside the temple, they will have to take extra measures by setting up sanitising tunnels at all the six entry points. “We have taken quotations and are in the process of giving orders for these gates. This should be done over the next 10 days. That apart, we will have to decide on how to regulate the crowd,” said Kalighat Temple committee vice-president Bidyut Haldar.
“We are in the process of taking measures to make our premises safe for devotees and this is taking a bit of time. We should be ready to reopen on June 15,” said Swami Suvirananda, general secretary of the Ramakrishna Math and Mission.