Puri, Aug 16: Hundreds of local devotees belonging to 8 wards of Puri civic body on Monday
had darshan of the presiding deities of Sri Jagannath temple.
The local devotees visited the temple in three sessions from 6 AM to 7PM today.
The temple remained closed for devotees since April 24 last due to covid pandemic and opened
for locals after a gap of about four months.
After temple servitor families had their darshan of the deities for three days from August 12 to14,
the temple administration allowed devotees living within 32 wards of the Puri municipal area for
darshan in a phased manner for five days beginning from today till August 20.
The Administration has issued 1.5 lakh tokens to the local devoteest have darshan of the lords in
five days.
As per the standard operating procedure released by the administration everyday till August 20 the devotees of at least five to eight wards would be given tokens reflecting their allocated day and time
for darshan limiting the total attendance to five thousand per day.
Swachh sathis distributed tokens among the devotees of the selected wards.
They had to approach the entry gate of the barricade through eight kiosks where they had to present their tokens and Aadhar cards as proof of their residence and enter the temple in a queue.
Nine rows of devotees proceeded through the barricades in a queue observing social distance
norms.
Eight platoons of police forces are deployed to ensure implementation of SOP and the Covid guidelines.
Sources said the darshan went smoothly for the day. This was the first day for the local residents.
The temple will be opened for the general public from August 23 onwards for darshan.The devotees from outside of the Puri town have to produce RT-PCR test negative report obtained within 96 hours
or certificate of complete inoculation besides adhere to the SOP.
On Janmastami and other important festivals the temple will remain closed for devotees to avoid
