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Nearly 300 devotees throng Babadham temple on last Somvari

Dumka: Nearly 300 devotees on Monday thronged the Baba Baidyanathdham temple in Deoghar on the occasion of Purnima and the last Somvari in the month of Shravan. This is the first time in nearly five months that the temple opened its doors for the devotees — although only for a day — following a directive by the state government on Sunday.



The government directive came in the wake of a recent ruling by the Supreme Court that advocated for the restricted entry of devotees. The court gave its ruling while hearing a PIL filed by Godda MP Nishikant Dubey against the closure of the temple.

The state government will take a call on the full-fledged reopening of the temple later, officials said.

Meanwhile, all the senior administrative officials, including Deoghar deputy commissioner Kamleshwar Prasad Singh and SP Piyush Pandey, were seen monitoring the premises since early in the morning to ensure that social distancing and other safety norms were being followed.

The DC said, “Although, we had earlier planned to keep the temple open for only an hour (from 5.30am to 6.30am), we later decided to extend the timing beyond noon considering the special day today.” He added, “Only those with masks were allowed inside the temple and we made sure that they maintained a distance of at least three feet when inside.”

The devotees welcomed the decision of reopening the temple. “Once I got to know that around one hundred devotees will be allowed to visit the sanctum sanctorum of the Babadham temple on Monday, I couldn’t sleep on Sunday night as I was eagerly waiting for daybreak,” said Prakash Singh of Krishnauri locality. He was among the few first of the devotees to enter the temple.

Bar practitioner Mukesh Kumar Pathak said, “Although, we did not touch the Shivlingam following the administration’s orders, we are happy to have got a glimpse of Mahadev (Lord Shiva).”

Meanwhile, Deoghar district has witnessed a massive spike in coronavirus cases in the last three days. Of the total 500 infections, 307 have been diagnosed in just three days since Friday, state government data released on Monday morning said. The district has 414 active cases while 84 persons have recovered and two have died.

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