The temple had reopened on October 17, the first day of 'Navratri', but a huge crowd gathered, posing a major challenge to the temple committee,
Mathura: After days of closing due to overcrowding, the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan reopened for devotees on Sunday amid COVID-19 guidelines and social distancing.
A heavy police force has been deployed here to control the crowd. "We have started online registration for `darshan` and only 500 devotees are being allowed to offer prayers in a single day," the temple manager said.
The temple had reopened on October 17, the first day of 'Navratri', after a seven-month closure due to the lockdown. More than 25,000 devotees turned up to offer prayers at the famous temple. Before opening the temple, its management had issued a notice saying that only 400 devotees will be allowed in a day.
The committee had also decided to give entry to those who come after registering themselves on the online portal.
However, the huge crowd that had gathered when the temple reopened, posed a major challenge to the temple committee, which failed to enforce social distancing norms and the local police were called in for help.
Amid allegations of 'mismanagement`, the committee decided to shut the doors for a course correction.
According to Mathura District Magistrate, Sarvagya Ram Mishra, "Police were deployed outside the temple for crowd management but the turnout of devotees was huge as it was the first day of Navratri. The online registration system was also not working and the chaos increased. We could not have taken action against the devotees as it is a matter of faith."
Devotees from far off places like Chandigarh, Gujarat, Delhi, Maharashtra and Rajasthan had reached Mathura for 'darshan' on Saturday.
A senior police officer said that once the online registration system is in place, it will be easy to control the crowd.
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