It is after a long gap that religious places across Jammu and Kashmir will be thrown open for the people from Monday. Though the opening of religious places for prayers was demanded quite earlier by a cross section of people but the way Covid-19 is spreading among the population here, the opening of religious places has to be a cautious affair.

The General instructions or SOPs among others have asked the religious organisations to set up Covid-19 safety committees, which may consist of volunteers/sevadars or employees. These committees have been tasked to ensure adherence to the SOPs which includes that persons above 60 years of age, persons with co-morbidities, pregnant women and children below the age of 10 years are advised to stay home.

The SOPs have also mentioned that visitors maintain a distance of six feet from each other, all visitors are to be allowed enter only if they are using face covers/masks, only asymptomatic persons would be allowed entry into the premises and washing hands, feet with soap and water before entering premises. All places of worship will maintain a list of persons (with contactable details) entering their places which may be required for the purpose of contact tracing.

However, all these measures will require meticulous planning at the religious places which we may not be able to adhere to owing to several reasons. The prime one being that the religious places in this part of the world are open to all the people with the management having very little control to monitor the activity that takes place in and around.

The religious places have very little resources which may prove to be insufficient while ensuring that all the SOPs are followed or heeded to. Therefore, the maximum onus lies on the people themselves to ensure that all measures are exercised so that the pandemic may not take a heavy toll on the people here.

We have been witnessing that people tend to get emotional while dealing with religious affairs. This we need to shun for the time being. For this we can cite or even follow the example that was set by the administration in Saudi Arabia while conducting the Hajj 2020. Though this year only a few thousand were allowed to perform the annual pilgrimage but the strict adherence to SOPs meant that not even a single person, the pilgrims or the staff that ensured the pilgrimage got infected by the deadly virus.

The example should be an eye opener for all of us and should imbibe in us the discipline that is needed while observing our religious obligations during the times of pandemic. Covid-19 is yet to achieve a peak in Jammu and Kashmir and no one can predict when that phase will be witnessed.

Our problems are far from over as we have a winter season approaching and medical experts have already warned of increased infections during that period. So our collective effort has to be more logical and genuine rather than surcharged with emotions when it comes to religious matters. Let good sense prevail and let us all stay safe.