The Baba Baidyanath temple will open its doors for an hour early on Monday morning for a limited number of devotees on the occasion of Rakshabandhan in accordance with a state home department communique.

The state home department asked the Deoghar administration on Sunday to allow darshan to not more than 100 devotees on Monday, but insisted that all Covid safety norms, like maintaining social distancing and the use of hand sanitisers, had to be followed.

Under-secretary of the state home department Sunil Kumar Jha, in a letter to the Deoghar administration, communicated the decisions taken in the light of the advocate general’s advice with regard to the Supreme Court’s July 31 order in response to a PIL filed by the BJP’s Godda MP Nishikant Dubey who had demanded reopening of the temple.

“Arrange for regulated darshan for local inhabitants tomorrow (Monday) on the occasion of Purnima but the crowd turnout shouldn’t be more than 100 people. All safety norms such as use of masks, sanitizers, etc, should be followed and all proceedings should be recorded using CCTV (cameras). The temple management should ensure regulated entry of pandas,” Jha’s letter said.

He said s decision on a full-fledged reopening of the temple would be communicated to the district separately.

Sources in the Deoghar district administration said a decision had been taken to open the temple for about an hour early in the morning for public on Monday. “From 5.15am to 6.30am, entry of public will be allowed inside the sanctum sanctorum. We have made required arrangements,” said a senior official, who did not wish to be named.

Godda MP Dubey welcomed the move. “At last the temple will be opened tomorrow (Monday) on the orders of the Supreme Court,” he tweeted on Sunday night.

Notably, all the religious places in Jharkhand, including the Deoghar temple, were closed after the imposition of a nationwide lockdown in March owing to the coronavirus pandemic. While the Union government subsequently allowed reopening of religious places with heightened safety protocols as a part of unlock measures, the Jharkhand government decided to continue with the curbs on all religious places and congregations.

Last month, the Jharkhand High Court ruled against Dubey's petition to allow Shravani Mela at Baba Baidyanath temple. The state government had cited the fear of community transmission of the virus due to huge gatherings at the temple.

Dubey, in a plea to the apex court against Jharkhand High Court order, had questioned the decision of restricting worshipers to virtual darshan. The SC requested Jharkhand government to allow worshippers into the temple on a limited basis and set up a mechanism by which there was no large congregation and devotees were able to maintain physical distancing.