Varanasi: With an elaborate ‘Mangala aarti’ , the famous Kashi Vishwanath temple in Varanasi threw open its doors for devotees after a gap of almost 80 days.
Devotees who thronged the temple, were allowed to offer prayers from a distance and flowers and ‘prasad’ was not allowed into the temple.
Only those devotees who wore a mask were allowed in after proper sanitization.
Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the temple trust, Piyush Tiwari, said that devotees were asked to sanitize their hands twice before entering into the temple.
“We are allowing only five devotees at a time to ensure social distancing. Every devotee is being subjected to thermal scanning and no one is allowed to touch the deity or the bells,” he said.
The temple will be sanitized five times every day to ensure that safety protocols are maintained.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had inaugurated the ‘e-Rudrabhishek’ facility at the Kashi Vishwanath temple on Monday.
Meanwhile, the famous Sankat Mochan temple has not yet been opened for devotees.
The temple Mahant Prof Vishwambhar Nath Mishra said that arrangements to open the temple were being made and a date would be announced soon.
“We are in touch with the district officials and as soon as the modalities are worked out, we will open the temple,” he added.
