Puri, Dec 29: The devotees will be deprived of darshan of the trinity of Sri Jagannath temple on the new year for the third consecutive year as precaution to prevent spread of Covid pandemic. Srimandir will remain closed for devotees from December 31 to January 2.
The temple will be closed for two days on December 31 and January 1 keeping in mind covid pandemic and heavy rush of devotees on the new year and January 2, being Sunday, is the regular weekend closing day as every Sunday Srimandir is sanitised.
Thursday is the last day of this year to have darshan of the presiding deities of the temple.
This is being done as per the decision of the special operating procedure framed by the state government.
The State government has imposed ban on Zero night celebration while health department is keeping close vigil on the visitors arriving at Puri bus stand and railway station.
Visitors with complete vaccination certificate and RT-PCR negative test report obtained within 96 hours are allowed to stay in hotels and enter into Sri Jagannath temple.
Most of the visitors are planning to spend the holiday on the beach and by visiting the Chilika lake and Konark Sun temple due to closure of the temple.
Some devotees from Madhya Pradesh had an altercation with the temple security personnel
on Wednesday while taking selfie inside the temple complex.
The visitors pleaded ignorance about the rules and regulations .They were however, released after paying fine for violating the temple norms.
