Kolkata: In view of the coronavirus scare, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has restricted the visiting hours of devotees to its global headquarters at Mayapaur in West Bengal’s Nadia district, an official said here on Thursday.
“Starting Thursday, the ‘darshan’ time at the temple complex for visitors will be from 10 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 7.30 pm. The queue will be arranged in such a fashion that devotees will enter the complex, offer prayers at the temple, and exit,” Subroto Das, head, communications, ISKCON Mayapur, told IANS.
Other than the designated route, all other parts of the headquarters will be off-limits for the pilgrims, who will be subjected to thermal screening at the campus entry gate and compulsory disinfection before entry to the temple.
Das said the temple sanctum will be barricaded to maintain a safe distance between visiting devotees and the devotees residing in the complex. The ISKON guesthouses will stop making new booking for guest rooms till April 15.
“All existing bookings after March 21 will be cancelled and only packed ‘prasadam’ made available to visitors.
The walls and floor of the temple will be disinfected twice a day,” he said.
The ISKCON authorities were coordinating with government authorities and following all restrictions put in place to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
