Prayagraj: Temples, hospitals continue witnessing rush despite Coronavirus threat

PRAYAGRAJ: At a time when the state and central governments are taking every possible step to minimise the spread of coronavirus (Covid-19), there are several places in the city which continue to witness large gathering of people, making a mockery of the advisory issued by the government.
Almost all the prominent temples of the city are being visited by large number of devotees who are least bothered to use sanitisers or maintain a minimum gap of one meter with each other.
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TOI visited several of the prominent temples of the city and witnessed the vulnerability of devotees as they formed a bee line to have a 'darshan' of their deity.
At Bade Hanuman temple of Sangam, large number of devotees thronged the temple all day through. Although being a normal weekday, the numbers of devotees were comparably low as compared to numbers of devotees on Tuesday and Saturday, still they were seen queuing at the entrance and the Garbh Grah (centre position of the temple which has the statue of lord Hanuman in lying positions). None of the devotees were seen wearing a mark of gloves. Neither the temple authorities were keen to ask anyone to wash their hands with sanitiser or keep themselves at a minimum distance with each other.
“Good sense should prevail amongst the management of these temples, if the important temples like Vindhyavasani of Vindhyachal or Maher can declare closure in public interest, why cant the temples of the city”, said Sameer Shukla, a resident of Jayantipur.
Same was the situation at other prominent temple of the city including Hanuman temple of civil lines, the Kalyani devi temple of Attarsuiya, Mankameshwar temple on the banks of Yamuna etc.
However, Sant Nirankari Mandal has cancelled the samagam (assembly) of Sunday’s till further notice. The Mandal has already cancelled such samagam, scheduled to take place at various cities on various dates of this month.
The is the situation same at various private and government hospitals of the city. The patients, who had come for the OPD’s were seen brushing their shoulders with one another, least bothered that they should be cautious against the spread of the virus and the steps that the government has asked them to take.
Likewise, the ongoing protest at Mansoor Ali Park of the city too continues despite the fact that such large gathering of protesters stands fair chance of spreading the virus. “We are following all the norms laid down by the government in the present situation and distributing masks to several of the protestors and trying our level best to make them sit at a distance with each other”, said Sara Siddiqui, one of the volunteer of the protest. She added that the protest would continue despite the threat.