Bhubaneswar: Concerned over the alarming rise in COVID-19 cases in the Odisha capital, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Tuesday decided to shut all religious institutions for the public from Wednesday (April 21) until further orders.
A decision to this effect was taken at a virtual meeting presided over by BMC Commissioner Prem Chandra Chaudhary.
Talking to mediapersons, Chaudhary said that the BMC had a meeting with the members of the managing committees of all religious institutions. Apart from this, the zonal deputy commissioners had also convened consultative meetings in this regard.
“The meeting decided that no devotees will be allowed into any temple, mosque and church in the city. The rituals at these religious institutions will be performed by a limited number of priests and sevayats,” he added.
He further said the BMC will announce the date for the closure of all religious institutions through a notification very soon and issue guidelines for the conduct of the rituals.
It may be mentioned here that Bhubaneswar has reported 3285 new COVID-19 cases in the city in the last 18 days since April 1.
Watch BMC commissioner’s video message here :
