Puri: With hundreds from the Puri Srimandir servitors’ community testing positive for novel-coronavirus, an emergency meeting was held under the chairmanship of Puri Collector to review the Covid situation, with a focus on containing the further spread of the virus amongst the servitors and employees.
The district authorities and temple administration expressed unwillingness to reopen Puri Srimandir, and are now concerned about the impact the daily positives might have on the Nitis and rituals of the Holy Trinity.
The meeting comprised members of the temple managing committee, Srimandir administrator (ritual), development commissioner, CDMO and Puri Collector.
Two teams under Assistant Revenue Commissioner have been formed to make sure critical servitors do not deviate from the Covid guidelines.
Though there will no disruption in Niti and rituals now, a member of the temple committee stated it may get disrupted in case of more infection and has expressed fear of transmission as was seen at Balaji Temple in Tirupati when it reopened. Under these circumstances, the State government should decide whether it is practical and safe to reopen the doors of the 12th century to devotees, he said.
