Sambalpur: The Samaleswari Temple Trust Board in Odisha’s Sambalpur city on Saturday announced that the ban on consumption of tobacco in any form on the temple premises will be strictly enforced from Sunday.
Speaking to the media, the trust board’s president Sanjay Babu said they had earlier notified about the decision to impose ban on consumption of paan (betel), Gutkha and tobacco inside the temple.
The decision was taken in the wake of similar restriction imposed in Jaganath temple at Puri. An awareness campaign was also conducted among the devotees coming to the Shakti shrine.
Appealing to the devotees to abstain from consumption of tobacco, Babu said the board has decided to impose penalty on anybody found consuming tobacco during visit to the temple.
“The temple is a place of sanctity and the devotees come here with devotion and feeling of purity. It is the responsibility of everybody to keep its premises neat and clean. We appeal to all the people to adhere to the guidelines in this regard to prevent penalty,” said Babu.
