Action against 24 priests for illegal entry in Tuljapur temple

AURANGABAD: Government officials in

Osmanabad

district have invoked action against 24

priests

associated with the famous

Tuljapur temple

, located around 260 km from

Aurangabad city

, for entering into the sanctum sanctorum of the

shrine

during a period other than the allotted shifts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Of these, eight priests have been banned from carrying out temple services for next three months, whereas 16 have been served show-cause notices. An

unsatisfactory response

to the notice would draw a ban on entering the temple for a fixed period.

Tuljapur tehsildar Saudagar Tandale, who is ex-officio chief manager of the shrine, on Wednesday said the priests facing action had violated the lockdown norms at different times — from after Navratri till last week.

“Only two priests are allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum of the temple during a shift of eight hours since the

Covid

outbreak of Covid-19. The priests perform the daily rituals. However, the priests in question entered into prohibited area despite being off-duty. The motive was to offer poojas and perform other rituals on behalf of devotees,” Tandale said.

He said the shrine has around 3,500 registered priests and some of them are appointed by the temple trust on shift-basis for the daily rituals.

“The

CCTV

footage as well as submissions by the security guards have confirmed the illegal presence of eight priests inside the shrine and, therefore, action has been taken against them after following the due process. A similar process will be followed in case of remaining priests who are served with show-cause notices,” Tandale added.

The priests trying to enter the sanctum sanctorum in illegally have been responsible for crowding inside the temple, which violates Covid prevention norms.

“Each priest seeking such entry carries a group of at least 10 to 20 devotees. While he performs the pooja and other ritual on behalf of the devotees, the visitors throw caution to wind,” Tandale said.

Considered a major shrine in Maharashtra, the Tuljabhavani temple in Tuljapur currently witnesses average daily footfall of over 12,000 devotees despite no entry into the sanctum sanctorum till date.

Usually, the number of visitors to the temple peaks during Navratri — nearly seven lakh devotees generally come to the temple then.