KOLKATA:
Dakshineswar Kali temple
will be off limits on
Mahalaya
morning and will open only at 3pm. The decision to keep the temple shut on a day when lakhs usually gather for rituals at the temple’s ghats and pray was taken following a meeting on Saturday between the temple trust authorities and Barrackpore Police commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma.
Kolkata Police, however, has no such plan to bar tarpan at the Hooghly. Instead, it is preparing a blueprint on ways to maintain social distancing during the ritual. “There will be adequate social distancing and we might mark the area into specific sectors,” said an officer. There will be traffic restrictions on Strand Road and Saint Georges Gate Road between Raja Woodmunt Street and Hastings crossings.
At Dakshineswar, the temple will shut on the evening of September 16 and reopen at 3pm on September 17. From the following day, the temple timings will change, according to Unlock 4.0 norms. It will open at 6am and shut at noon, instead of 10am. Again, it will open at 3pm and shut at 7.30pm, instead of 6pm.
For Viswakarma puja, which is on the same day as Mahalaya, police have asked industrial units and factories to curtail celebrations, particularly meals and functions.
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