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Odisha
Sambalpur: After a gap of around nine months, the famous temple of Goddess Samaleswari and other religious institutions in the district will reopen from tomorrow, district collector Shubham Saxsena informed on Saturday.
"I would like to inform the residents of Sambalpur that all religious institutions in the district including the Samaleswari Temple will reopen from tomorrow. The district administration has formulated a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) in this regard. I request all the devotees to follow the guidelines while entering the temple for darshan," Saxsena told media.
The Collector said that only city residents will be allowed to take darshan of the deity during the first five days. The temple will be thrown open for public from January 8.
The devotees will be allowed darshan only under strict adherence to covid-19 protocols.
In a related development, the Rayagada district administration on Saturday announced to reopen all religious institutions including famous Majhighariani temple from January 4. As many as 10 devotees will be allowed to enter the temple at a time, said District Collector.
However, the Majhighariani Temple will remain closed from January 12 to 17 in anticipation of heavy congregation of devotees on account of 'Makar Sankranti', he added.
Earlier, the Sri Jagannath Temple in Puri has reopened in a phased manner. In the first phase, the family members of the servitors were allowed for darshan of the sibling deities while the residents of Puri were permitted entry into the temple in the second phase. The 12th century shrine will be thrown open for the public from tomorrow.
Similarly, many other famous shrines in the State like Akhandalamani temple in Bhadrak, Maa Biraja Temple in Jajpur, Lingaraj Temple in Bhubaneswar have already opened their gates for the devotees in strict adherence to Covid-19 protocols.
