Places of worship to re-open from June 14: Govt

 The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma with leaders of different religious organizations on Friday.

“We have decided to allow places of worship to re-open from June 14, a notification in this regard of which will be issued tomorrow,” Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong told reporters after the meeting.

Tynsong informed that the draft standard operating procedures (SOPs) are in place and will be circulated to all religious organizations after fine tuning is being done.

“We still have to improve on few more clauses and the exercise will be completed by today itself,” he said.

Asked, the deputy chief minister said that the religious leaders will have to reach out to their members and believers on the need to understand that protocols have to be strictly followed in totality.

Rev Himanchu from All Saints’ Cathedral Church of North India said that they have suggested the government if the SOPs can be translated into local languages in order to reach out to the rural congregation.

“We also suggested the need to come up with guidelines on the number of people who can come together to pray and worship,” he said.

Central Puja Committee (CPC) president Naba Bhattacharjee said they are already following the standard protocols including social distancing in all temples.

“However, since we also have festivals, we have asked the government to issue protocols on the number of people who can be present at one time depending on the size of the temple to which the CM has assured to take necessary step,” he said.

Bhattacharjee also informed that the government has also decided to appoint a nodal officer who will be interacting with religious groups for all other issues regarding clarification or articulation.

Welcoming the decision of the government, Shillong Muslim Union (SMU) assistant general secretary Noor Nongrum said they will be asking all masjids to inform about the size of the mosques to ensure protocols are maintained.

By Our Reporter