Head priest of Sabarimala temple advises a delay in reopening the hill temple because of rising Covid-19 cases, while the Travancore Devaswom Board, the government body that helps run the temple, on Wednesday said that temple will be reopened on June 14 with the initial plan.
“We decided after talking to the tantri family. As of now, we will go ahead with our plan to open it. I have got no information from the tantri on this view. We have already started enrollment for the virtual queue,” said Travancore Devaswom Board president N Vasu. TDB runs Sabarimala and other primary temples in Kerala.
Kandararu Mohanararu, Sabarimala tantri (supreme priest), said he has sent a note to the TDB commissioner and spoke to TDB president N Vasu regarding the opening of the temple. However, TDB claims that it has received no information regarding this matter.
Referring to the increase in cases in the neighbour states, the supreme priest said it is better to hold up the opening of the temple. “Many pilgrims rush the temple from neighboring states. It will be difficult to maintain a tab on all the devotees. So we can postpone the festival and other functions for now,” he said, also included allowing devotees currently will pose a serious risk.
Due to various Hindu organisations questioning the government’s decision to open temples in the Kerala state, his demand in the wake. The government had decided to allow darshans for devotees at Sabarimala after applying a virtual queue, submitting a Covid-free certificate obtained from a hospital or lab approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research.
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