Maha Govt allows places of religious worship to open from October 7 amidst strict guidelines

@nag228

Mumbai: During the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic, all the religious places in Maharashtra were shut down for the people since March 2021. Now seven months after the closure of the worship places the Maharashtra government has decided to open all the religious places with strict safety measures and appropriate Covid protocol. These places of religious worship will be opened outside containment zones only.

The Maharashtra government has revised its Covid-19 guidelines under its ‘break the chain’ initiative. From Thursday onwards all the religious places will be open for visitors as per timings decided by the respective authorities for the places of worship in areas outside containment zones only.  The state govt has also framed the rules for the authorities and the visitors to abide by. 

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) in Mumbai has issued orders capping the number of visitors to places of worship up to 50 per cent of total capacity.

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As per the revised guidelines of the state government. The earlier Covid-19 rules like washing, sanitizing hands, wearing masks, maintaining social distancing, thermal scanning of visitors will be mandatory but along with this the Maharashtra government has issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as a preventive measure.

Senior citizens above 65 years of age and persons with comorbidities, pregnant women and children below 10 years are advised to stay at home. Respiratory etiquettes which involve covering one’s mouth and nose with handkerchief or tissue paper should be strictly followed. Spitting should be strictly prohibited and if caught, a penalty should be imposed.

Besides all these, the religious places should ensure that at the entrance of the worship place sanitizer and thermal screening arrangements are made available.

Only asymptomatic people should be allowed inside the place of religious worship. Audio video visuals and banners and posters with messages of preventive methods of Covid-19 need to be put up outside the place of worship. 

The number of people allowed in the premises in any given time slot may be decided on the factors such as size of structure, ventilation etc by the board of trustees of the trust, board and the local authorities. 

Proper crowd management and parking slots and maintaining social distance outside the premises also to be taken care of. Touching of idols, books etc is strictly prohibited. Common mats for prayers are also prohibited. No physical offerings like prasad, sprinkling of holy water in the worship premises is being allowed.