Devotees flock Golden Temple and other shrines in Amritsar, break social distancing rules

A lot of devotees thronged the Golden Temple and Bhadrakali Mandir in Amritsar on the first day of the extended lockdown on May 18. According to a leading daily, people were seen violating social distancing rules in the shrines, much to the disappointment of the concerned authorities.

Reportedly, several visitors present at the Golden Temple skipped wearing the mask. On their part, the temple authorities did their duty to sanitise every visitor and performed temperature screening at the main entrance of the temple known as Ghantaghar Chowk.
In addition, news has it that two disinfestation tunnels have been established by the temple authorities inside the Sachkhand Sahib complex at the Golden Temple.
SDM Amritsar Vikas Hira told a leading news channel that no order has been passed to reopen religious shrines and institutions. The devotees who visited the two aforementioned shrines did not know about the union government mandates on post-lockdown restrictions. Hira also said that henceforth devotees will be barred from visiting the temple in Amritsar, and the authorities have agreed to cooperate.
Meanwhile, the Golden Temple Mail aka the Frontier Mail on Mumbai-Amritsar route is one of the trains among the 200 others which are ready to restart operations from June 1, 2020. The Golden Temple Mail has served India even before independence. It courses through seven Indian states in its entire journey from Mumbai Central in Maharashtra to Amritsar in Punjab.