Puri Jagannath Temple To Reopen On Wednesday: Here Is The Timing And Schedule For Darshan

Puri: An elaborate SOP has been drawn by the Puri district administration to facilitate the Darshan of Lord Jagannath by devotees when the Jagannath Temple reopens in a phased manner from December 23.

As per the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), Sevayats (Servitors) and their family members will get the exclusive privilege to have the first Darshan of the Holy Trinity for a period of three days starting from Wednesday.

Special arrangements will be made to ensure that no outsider or non-Sevayat enters the temple complex during the allotted slot, official sources said.

The residents of Puri will get a chance of Darshan in the second phase starting from December 26 to 31. The temple will remain out of bounds for devotees on January 1 and January 2, 2021, informed Puri Collector Balwant Singh.

According to Singh, the residents of Puri will get a chance to have the Darshan of the deities at in a phased manner starting from 7:30 am till the gates are closed in the evening.

#Puri Srimandir Reopening | We will fix a schedule for locals based on ward density; ward members will be given tokens for darshan; 4 hours a day is fixed for public darshan & they will have to produce Aadhaar card & tokens before entering temple, says Collector Balwant Singh

— OTV (@otvnews) December 21, 2020

Puri residents will be allowed inside temple ward-wise and for each ward four-hour slot has been extended for the Darshan, said Singh.

The fixation of ward-wise list will be purely based on population and other demographics and tokens will be issued to residents of the town for facilitating smooth Darshan of the Lords, Singh added.

“On an average, residents of 5 wards will be allowed in a day. We will issue the ward-wise break up and the slot for Darshan with timings by tomorrow. Each ward will get a 4-hour slot for Darshan. The tokens will be handed over to the head of each family through our network of Anganwadi , ASHA workers and other volunteers,” said Singh.

The Puri Collector further informed that the town residents will have to bring the token, Aadhar or voter identity cards along with them for display before entry. Special counters will be set up to verify the documents and photographs of the residents clicked at the counters to ensure that there is no confusion and entry of outsiders would be denied.

The Puri Collector said that the general Darshan by devotees of other districts and outside the State will start from January 3, 2021.

“Along with necessary photo-ID proof, the devotees will have to bring COVID-19 (negative) certificates to gain entry into the temple. There will be no special arrangements for senior citizens as we are discouraging people of 65 years old and above and children for Darshan,” Singh added.