Keypoints:
- Religious places have been closed in Maharashtra since March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
- CM Uddhav Thackeray says , places of worship to reopen soon with all safety measures.
Religious places have been closed in Maharashtra and most other states since March because of the COVID crisis.Listing coronavirus safety measures such as masks, sanitisers and temperature checks that the people will have to follow, the state government said that temples and other places of worship will reopen from Monday.
Since March, religious places have been closed in Maharashtra and other states, but the opposition BJP has mounted a campaign to have them reopened, backed by governer Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
Last week, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had said places of worship will reopen soon as he offered Diwali greetings to the state. He also confirmed that the schools were set to resume for classes 9 to 12 after Diwali, with safety protocols already in place for this. The CM said he had held out on reopening religious places because of the risk to senior citizens who visited them. Medical experts believe that elderly people are at greater risk of contracting the COVID virus.
As a part of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), the governing bodies of the religious places will be responsible for crowd management and people above 65, children below 10, and pregnant women have been advised to stay at home.
“When will temples open? They will open soon. After Diwli, we will create SOPs for this. Elderly people visit temples and they are at risk(of contracting COVID). Therefore, overcrowding needs to be avoided… be it temples, masjids or any other place,” Mr. Thackeray said it last week.
