Puri: The doors of Srimandir might have been thrown open to people after a gap of over nine months, but many devotees are reportedly finding it difficult to visit the 12th century shrine as they do not have the mandatory Covid negative reports.
Only 2,070 devotees visited Srimandir till 5.30 pm Tuesday even though the Puri district administration and the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) have made all arrangements to facilitate smooth darshan for at least 15,000 people on a daily basis, sources said.
It is learnt that the district administration does not have the required permission to conduct Covid tests on pilgrims coming from outside Puri. “A private hospital conducted Covid tests on hundreds of devotees January 3. So, doubts were raised regarding the test reports issued by the hospital. Now, the Chief District Medical Officer (CDMO) has directed the hospital to conduct Covid tests on only 200 people per day,” said a source.
As a result, many devotees both from Puri city and outside are facing difficulties to obtain Covid negative reports to visit Srimandir. Moreover, devotees from poor economic background are unable to arrange money for Covid tests, sources said.
“The administration should have opened adequate Covid testing centres in the Holy City before reopening the shrine for all the devotees. Besides, poor devotees may not arrange money for Covid tests. Many devotees returned home without visiting the shrine January 3 as they did not have the required Covid negative reports,” said a social activist.
Many servitors, meanwhile, demanded that the administration should allow the locals to visit Srimandir without producing Covid reports. Besides, the administration should open adequate Covid testing centres for devotees from other places.
