The priests of the Chardham temples in Uttarakhand have rejected a state government proposal to conduct online the four shrines’ annual opening ceremony, scheduled this month, keeping in mind the coronavirus outbreak.

The priests of the Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri temples have also brushed away the state government’s proposal to have the devotees offer puja online during the lockdown.

Spokespersons for the priests’ union and temple managements told reporters that tradition was inviolable and that cameras cannot be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum, so online rituals were out of the question.

Satpal Maharaj, state religious affairs and tourism minister, had said on Thursday after a meeting with chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat that physical performance of the opening-day rituals was not possible.

He had said the chief priests or “ravals” of Kedarnath and Badrinath were stranded in other states and would not be able to arrive on time.

“Both ravals can perform the opening rituals online,” Maharaj had said. He told reporters that B. Sankaran Namboodiri of Badrinath was in Kannur, Kerala, and Bhimashankar Linga of Kedarnath in Nanded, Maharashtra.

But the Devbhumi Tirth Purohit Hakhakuk Dhari Mahapanchayat, a union of the priests of the four temples, met in Dehradun on Friday and rejected the government proposal, arguing it went against “the norms set by Adi Shankaracharya”.

Every year the temples are closed in October-November and reopened in early summer. While the Gangotri and Yamunotri shrines are to reopen on April 26, Kedarnath and Badrinath will do so on April 29 and 30, respectively.

“The texts say that in the raval’s absence, the ceremony can be conducted by a priest from the Dimri community in Badrinath and a priest of Shukla lineage in Kedarnath,” Acharya Nareshanand Nautiyal, former member of the Kedarnath-Badrinath Mandir Samiti, told reporters.

“The head priests of the other two temples (Gangotri and Yamunotri) are in the state and can reach the shrines on time.”

Mahapanchayat spokesperson Brijesh Sati said: “No online ceremony by priests or puja by devotees is possible because cameras are prohibited at the four temples.”

He said the large number of pilgrims the temples attract “is directly linked to the livelihoods of lakhs of people, including the shopkeepers in the temple towns”.

“They earn for six months when the shrine is open and survive on their savings till the next season. Online puja will shatter them,” Sati said.

While the current ban on gatherings and travel means only priests and temple officials and staff can attend the opening ceremonies, Aniruddh Uniyal, member of the Yamunotri Mandir Samiti, suggested the government devise measures to allow pilgrims to come and perform puja after the lockdown ends.

“We suggest the government think of providing better facilities to the pilgrims instead of focusing on online puja,” he said.

Public health experts have cautioned that large gatherings should not be allowed immediately after the lockdown ends, and there are indications the relaxations may be staggered and applied differentially district-wise depending on their Covid-19 situation.

Suresh Semwal, Mahapanchayat convener and president of the Gangotri Mandir Samiti, said: “We have seen many calamities in the past but tradition was never compromised with.”

Flash floods had destroyed many areas of the temple towns in 2013.

“We will be physically present at the puja to goddess Ganga on the scheduled date,” Semwal said.

Plea to tourists

The Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam, a government organisation that looks after the development of Garhwal district, has appealed to tourists not to cancel their bookings for April and May at hotels and government guesthouses.