Belur Math will be open to devotees and other visitors from February 10, after remaining shut for nearly six months as a precaution against Covid-19.

Around 300 monks stay at the Math, the global headquarters of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission, and close to 250 employees work there. The Math closed its gates to visitors in August after a brief reopening post-lockdown.

Sources said senior monks of the order met recently to review the situation and unanimously decided to reopen the gates to the public, but with new timings.

“The Math will remain open between 8.30am and 11am and from 3.30pm to 5.15pm,” Swami Suvirananda, the general secretary of Ramakrishna Math and Mission, said on Monday.

“We will gradually relax the timings. As of now, visitors will only be allowed in temples on the Math premises…. There will be no diksha-daan as of now.”

Between October and March, the Math usually remains open from 8.30am to 11.30am and from 3.30pm to 5.30pm.

To start with, devotees will only be allowed to visit the temples of Sri Ramakrishna, Holy Mother, Swami Vivekananda and Swami Brahmananda, and the Pally Mangal and book stalls in the Math compound.

Belur Math had shut its gates to visitors on March 15 as the coronavirus started spreading across the country.

The gates were reopened on June 15 and visitors were required to undergo a series of checks before they were let in. But soon thereafter, several monks and Math employees tested positive for Covid-19 and the administrators decided to shut the gates again on August 2.

Monks overseeing the Math’s administration said all visitors would have to follow Covid-19 protocols, inclu-ding wearing a mask, sanitising hands and maintaining a safe distance among each other.

“There will be no distribution of bhog for the time being. Visitors, other than those who have special appointments, will not be allowed to meet monks,” said a monk.