Bhubaneswar: A day after the Sri Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) announced to reopen the 12th century shrine from December 23, the servitors of other temples across the State have intensified their demand to take similar step to reopen all other religious institutions with strict adherence to the Covid-19 guidelines.
The SJTA has recommended the State government to reopen the Sri Jagannath temple in Puri from December 23 for the Puri residents and from January 3 for the outsiders. However, the government is yet to take a call on reopening of other famous shrines like Lingaraj temple in Bhubaneswar, Tarini temple in Ghatagaon of Keonjhar, Goddess Charchhika temple in Banki, Cuttack Chandi temple and many others across the State.
The servitors and local shopkeepers who earn their daily bread and butter by selling prasad to the devotees are optimistic about early government measures for reopening of all other shrines.
The servitors at Lingaraj temple demanded that the temple trust should call a meeting regarding the matter and take necessary action what the SJTA has done a day ago.
"The Khordha Collector himself is the president of the Lingaraj Temple Trust Board. He should immediately convene a meeting of the servitors and make necessary arrangements for reopening of Lingaraj Temple for the devotees. We request the State government to do the needful in this regard" said Kamalakant Badu, secretary of Badu Nijog, Lingaraj Temple.
Similar demand has also been made by the servitors of Cuttack Chandi temple. Sevayats of this age-old shrine said that they depend on the donation from the devotees to maintain their families. Since the temple has remained shut for months, their livelihood has also been affected greatly.
"My family entirely depends upon the donation from the devotees which I lost for the last eight months. We have full faith in the government that it would refrain from taking any discriminatory approach. But, we agree that guidelines will be different for other temples. We are well prepared to cooperate with the government if government ponders over it ", said Manoj Panda, a servitor of Cuttack Chandi temple.
Echoing similar sentiment, Prasad shopkeepers also approached the government to act benevolently towards their woes.
"Our livelihood is in danger as the temple has remained closed for the public for last eight months. If the government takes steps to reopen the shrine like Sri Jagannath temple, we would be grateful to it. The devotees who were deprived of the darshan of their beloved goddess, can also get an opportunity to have darshan of her", said Muralidhar Sahoo, a shopkeeper who ekes out his living by selling prasad in front of the Tarini temple at Ghatagan.
On the other hand, preparations are going on in Sri Jagannath temple in Puri for the smooth darshan of the devotees. The arrangements came a day after the Chhatisa Nijog, (Priests' Association) has given its consent for reopening of the temple at a meeting with temple authorities on Saturday.
Following the decision, the temple authorities have started barricading from the SJTA office to Singhadwar for better crowd management.
Meanwhile, Puri MLA Jayant Sarangi expressed doubts over the government's decision to make Covid test report mandatory for outsiders before entering the temple.
"I don't understand how the decision to allow devotees having Covid negative report will be executed. If the government takes such decision for the safety of the devotees, I would definitely welcome the move," Sarangi added.