For the first time after nearly two years of restricted entry on account of the Covid-19 pandemic, the doors of the Lord Jagannath temple at Puri will finally be thrown open to devotees without any pre-requirements from February 21.
In a major decision concerning millions of Jagannath devotees across the globe, the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) on Monday decided to relax the Covid restrictions for their entry into the holy shrine without the twin-dose vax certificate, from coming Monday.
The decision has been taken in a Chhattisha Nijog meeting held in Puri following a deliberation on the devotees’ sentiments and current Covid situation.
Since the daily Covid cases have gone down considerably and almost all the people have been administered vaccines at least twice, the temple administration decided to relax the curbs, informed the Chief Administrator of SJTA, Krishan Kumar.
The Temple was reopened on February 1, 2022 for the devotees after a brief closure of 20 days. As per the SOP released by the Temple administration, all devotees were required to bring their photo ID Card, namely, Aadhaar /Voter ID or any other photo ID card for identification, along with the final certificate for Covid-19 vaccination (of having taken two doses) or Covid-19 negative certificate (RT-PCR) of testing done within 98 hours prior to the visit to the temple.
However, with the fresh decision by the temple administration, the devotees will be able to get the darshan of their beloved Lords without any proof of vaccination.