The Jharkhand government has decided on prohibition of Shravani Mela and Kanwar Yatras at Baba Baidyanath Dham temple in Deoghar district because of the Covid pandemic for the second year in succession.

Nearly 40 lakh devotees draw holy water from River Ganga at Sultanganj (in Bhagalpur, Bihar) and travel almost 109km to Deoghar to offer it at the Baidyanath Dham during the holy month of Shravan which commences from July 25.

“Considering the recent Supreme Court decisions on prohibiting devotees for Rath Yatra in Puri and forcing withdrawal of Kanwar Yatra in Uttar Pradesh due to the Covid pandemic we have decided against allowing Shravani Mela and Kanwar Yatras,” confirmed Deoghar deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri.

However, the government is making efforts to ensure devotees see the rituals at the temple online.

“We will be arranging for showing live the rituals held in the temple 45 minutes in the morning against 45 minutes in the evening through www.JharGov.tv (Jharkhand’s own web television and portal) for the convenience of the devotees. We hope to start showing it from the morning of July 25 itself,” the deputy commissioner said.

Incidentally, deputy commissioner of Deoghar is the ex-officio chairman of the Shravani Mela committee which oversees the month-long spiritual fair, one of the longest spiritual fair of Asia.