Close on the heels of the closure of the famous Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai and Tuljabhavani temple in Osmanabad district in the aftermath of the outbreak of Coronavirus, the authorities downed the shutters of renowned Shirdi Saibaba temple in Ahmednagar district on Tuesday afternoon.
“Shri Saibaba temple will remain closed for darshan from 3 pm today till further notice. Similarly, the temple’s Prasadalay, accommodation centre and Canteen will also not be open for the devotees for an indefinite period,” Saibaba Trust’s Chief Executive Officer Arun Dongre said.
Talking to media persons, Dongre said: “There would not be any crowd in around the temple. There would be just four to five priests when we take out a customary palkhi ( procession) of Saibaba on Thursday. Though the temple would be closed to devotees for darshan, the on-line darshan of Saibaba will continue. So is the live telecast of pujas”.
On Monday, the managements of Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai and Tuljabhavani temple at Osmananad had discontinued darshan for devotees in view of the Covid-19 situation in the state.
Reports from Kolhapur, meanwhile, said that the famous Ambabhavani temple in the western Maharashtra town would also be closed for darsan to devotees. “A formal decision in this regard would be taken at joint meeting between the district collector and temple trust chairman Madhav Jadhav,” a temple spokesperson said.