Ranchi district administration, after a meeting with the representatives of all the puja committees in the Capital, has come up with elaborate guidelines for the festival in wake of the impending fear of a third wave of Covid-19, officials said on Tuesday.
The administration has refused to entertain the demands of puja committees to erect idols taller than five feet, a cap set by the State in an earlier guideline. Several puja committees had demanded that the government remove the five feet cap on the height of idols as taller idols may not lead to any violation of Covid norms and idol makers had already erected taller idols by the time the government issued its guidelines for puja.
While Puja committees will not be allowed to organise Bhog distribution ceremonies at the pandals, they will be allowed to deliver Bhog to the doorsteps of devotees.
Pointing at alleged misinformation spread regarding Bhog distribution during Durga Puja in the state, Disaster Management Minister Banna Gupta said that the government has not imposed any kind of prohibition on home delivery of Bhog during the festival if the process was carried out with due adherence to the Covid-19 protocols.
“Covid-19 is not gone yet. And it will be safe for all of us to taste Bhog or Prasad at home,” Gupta said.
The puja committees were allowed to play mantras and other puja rituals on speakers, but playing songs remained prohibited. Special police patrolling teams will keep an eye on the violators during the festival and book them under the relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act, sources said.
Like last year, puja committees will neither be allowed to decorate areas around the puja pandals nor allow setting up food stalls in the vicinity of pandals.
As per guidelines from the district administration, devotees will not be allowed inside puja pandals and they will have to worship Maa Durga from a barricade set outside the pandals. Not more than 25 people, including puja committee members and priests, will be allowed inside the pandals at a time.
Ranchi administration, in accordance with the Government guidelines, has decided not to allow minors in puja pandals in a move particularly aimed it averting a third wave of Covid-19, sources from the administration said on Tuesday, adding that all puja committee members and priests will have to be at least partially-vaccinated.
Continuing the ban on religious processions, the administration has decided to allow only puja committee members to attend idol immersion rituals to be performed at locations set by the administration in advance.
For the second year in a row, Ranchi will not witness Ravan Dahan, a ceremony that attracts hordes of people from suburban as well as urban areas to the Morhabadi Ground here. The administration observed that allowing Ravan Dahan in public places may lead to huge gatherings, which may cause spread of Covid-19.