Devotees throng temples as religious places reopen in Maharashtra

Places of religious worship in Maharashtra, which had been shut since the imposition of COVID-19 lockdown in March, reopened on November 16 with devotees visiting some of the prominent temples and shrines in the state.

Mumbai: As religious places opened in Maharashtra, after several months of closure amid COVID-19 induced lockdown, devotees thronged temples on Monday.

The reopening of the places of worship coincided with the Diwali ''Padwa'', which is an important festival in the state.

Early in the morning, devotees were seen visiting Lord Vitthal's temple at Pandharpur in Satara, Saibaba's shrine in Shirdi, Goddess Tulja Bhavani's temple in Osmanabad and the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai.

Sri Vitthal Rukhmini temple in Pandharpur, an adorable deity of entire Maharashtra and Varkari community was also opened.

The mukhdarshan of idols of Vitthal was started six in the morning. The devotees who had booked online were permitted to have mukhdarshan of idols.

The devotees from Chennai were first to have mukhdarshan. They expressed rejoice seeing their beloved idol after such a huge gap.

In Kolhapur, the famous Ambabai temple was also opened. The devotees were seen queuing up since early morning to take darshan of their deity.

The enthusiastic devotees from all over Maharashtra thronged Ambabai temple in Kolhapur.

The state government’s decision permitting religious places to open was heartily welcomed in Nanded.

The world-famous Sachkhand Gurudwara is situated in Nanded and Sikh devotees from India as well as abroad visit here. The place was flooded with people and the atmosphere was extremely enthusiastic.

The Sai Mandir in Shirdi has also opened once again with 60 devotees permitted to enter the temple to attend kakad Arti.

There was a huge crowd of devotees gathered since early morning. But, complaints were filed that, the arrangement plan of darshan went haywire as temple administration officials themselves did not comply with social distance norms.

Shivsena leader from Shirdi, Sadashiv Lokhande said that the administration has misguided devotees and he will take the matter to the chief minister.

In Haji Ali shrine, a place of worship for Muslims, devotees were given entry after complying COVID protocol.

According to the SOPs laid down by the government, only asymptomatic people will be allowed inside places of worship and the wearing of face mask is mandatory for devotees.

It may be mentioned here that most devotees expressed happiness at the resumption of darshan at the temples.