After a gap of 70 days, the temples that remained closed in Coimbatore district due to the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic would reopen on Monday as part of the new relaxations in the lockdown announced by the State government.
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department closed over 800 temples in the district on April 26, including prominent temples namely Subramaniyaswami Temple at Marudhamalai, Patteeswarar Temple at Perur and Aranganathaswamy Temple at Karamadai along with Koniamman Temple and Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple within corporation limits, to control the spread of COVID-19. However, the routine rituals for the deities and administrative works were being carried out.
Sources in the HR&CE Department said on Saturday that the premises of the Subramaniyaswami Temple, Marudhamalai was cleaned and will be disinfected on Sunday prior to the reopening. Several temples in the district began cleaning its premises as part of the preparations on Saturday.
Following the reopening, ‘annadhanam’ would be done only in the form of distributing food packets outside the temple premises at noon to prevent overcrowding, the sources said. The devotees would be allowed inside the temple as per the standard operating procedures issued by the State government, according to the sources.
