Himachal temples remain shut, govt advises online worship

Shimla: Famous Hindu shrines in Himachal Pradesh remained shut on Monday as the state government was yet to put in place all the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) like sanitizer and avoiding crowding of the devotees. However, religious rituals of the prominent temples continued and webcasting of the rituals was being done. The government advised the devotees to do online worship and rituals.

All the shrines in the state have been closed since March 17 as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The temples include the hilltop Naina Devi in Bilaspur district, Chintpurni in Una district, Baba Balak Nath Temple in Deotsidh in Hamirpur district, and the Brajeshwari Devi, Jwalaji, Baglamukhi, Chamunda Devi and Bijnath in the Kangra district.

They normally witness a huge rush. A majority of the pilgrims come from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi.

The Centre has allowed the opening of the religious places across the country from June 8 with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in place.

The officials told IANS the hill state was yet to come up with SOPs.