The Jharkhand government has decided to allow Baba Baidyanath Dham of Deoghar and the Basukinath temple in Dumka to reopen for darshan for four hours a day but only for residents of the state.

Based on the latest order, issued on Wednesday by the state home, prison and disaster management department, officials in Deoghar indicated that it would take a day or two to finalise norms and reopen the temple.

Joint secretary of the department Manish Tiwari said, “As per the state government’s decision, darshan at the two temples will only be for residents of Jharkhand. The number of persons permitted for darshan shall not exceed 50 per hour in Deoghar and 40 per hour in Dumka. Most importantly, darshan will be permitted only for four hours a day.”

He said the temple managements have been asked to preferably issue online permits and ensure devotees adhere to all the standard operating protocols prescribed by government of India in view of the ongoing pandemic.

A Deoghar district administration official said the temple was expected to open within a day or two. “Although we had readied all groundwork in advance for regulating entry, we were waiting for the state government’s order. It may take a day or two for the temples to allow darshan as we need to finalise some last-minute preparations,” he said.

As of now, only pandas, or servitors associated with the temple, were allowed entry to the temples to perform daily rituals.

The state government had ordered the closure of the temples at Deoghar and Dumka, along with several other big and small religious places, ever since the nationwide lockdown was announced in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Subsequently, restrictions were withdrawn gradually in phases. But the Jharkhand government continued its stay on religious activities, including the famed annual Shravani mela in Deoghar, in view of the steady rise in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar was only allowed to open for small groups of devotees for about eight hours on the occasion Rakshabandhan that coincided with the last day of the month of Shravan following a nudge to the state by the Supreme Court in response to a PIL filed by BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey.