As many as 301 devotees had darshan of Lord Shiva at Baba Baidyanath Dham on the occasion of Rakshabandhan on Monday with the temple opening its doors for the first time since the lockdown, staying open for close to eight hours instead of one hour as had been decided earlier.

“We altered the plan in consultation with the state government to keep the temple doors open for devotees till 2pm from 6.30am. Entry of devotees actually began from 8am after sarkari puja (ritualistic ceremonies) and by 2pm, 301 had had darshan,” said Deoghar deputy commissioner Kameshwar Prasad Singh.

Basanti, who was at the temple, with her trader husband, said the arrangements were excellent and there was no crowd. “We expected a heavy rush but were lucky to have darshan. The entire exercise took barely an hour. The temple authorities were very strict, didn’t allow us to touch anything,” she said.

Deputy commissioner Singh said the proceedings remained smooth and there was total compliance of Covid safety protocols.

“Everyone who entered were scanned by thermal guns. We ensured that they wore masks, sanitised themselves and followed the required physical distancing. There wasn’t any instance of crowding,” Singh said, adding that since morning he, along with other senior officials, had camped there to oversee arrangements.

“From tomorrow (Tuesday) till further orders, the temple will be out of bounds for the public as a part of the lockdown,” he noted.

On Sunday, the state home department had asked Deoghar administration to arrange for darshan of a restricted number of devotees on the occasion of Purnima in view of a recent Supreme Court in connection with a PIL filed by the BJP’s Godda MP, Nishikant Dubey.

Everything seemed to fall in place on Monday, marking the end of the holy month of Shravan.

Basanti’s husband, Suman Kesari, said, “We consider ourselves lucky to have managed to get darshan of the lord before the end of Shravan. Every year, we always pay a visit to the temple every Monday of Shravan, standing for hours in long queues to pour water. But with temple being closed this time due to the pandemic, we never thought we would be able to offer puja this time.”