COVID-19 has had implications that are hard to imagine. More than just the frustration of being indoors, the pandemic has left a lot of people jobless and has taken away the income source for many. Tourism is one of the hardest-hit industries, and apart from just the airlines and the hotels, it is the ordinary people who are bearing the brunt. In an unfortunate episode, priests in Uttarakhand are opting for odd jobs, including factory workers as religious tourism has suffered badly due to COVID-19 crisis.
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Priests Of Ganga Temple At Har ki Pairi Are Working In Factories
So here is the sad reality. With no fund to sustain themselves, many priests from Haridwar and Rishikesh including the ‘Ganga Temple’ at Har ki Pairi have started working in factories in the evening shift. What is causing them to work in factories? No devotees are coming to pray to the deities, and the temples are finding it difficult to pay the priests as regularly as they would do earlier. Simply providing ration to the priests has become a challenge for the temples in Haridwar. Uttarakhand Opens For Tourism: Travellers Must Know This Before Making Any Plans.
Pandemic Hits Religious Institutions
Along with the chief priest of the temple, a total of eight other ‘Vedpathis’ are employed to care for the temple duties. They do it shift wise where the morning shift starts at with the ritual of the ceremonial bath whereas the second shift begins at 2 pm and ends at 11 pm. All the priests are allocated shifts in roosters to handle their work of the temple. However, the same has been disrupted due to the pandemic.
Many priests have opted to work in the factories after the government reopened them to meet their basic needs. The priests are making anything between 8000-12,000 per month by working in the factories. The government is also trying to find the priests in this hour of financial scarcity. Madhya Pradesh To Develop Ramayan Circuit To Boost Tourism.
The Cancellation Of Kanwar Yatra
The cancellation of Kanwar Yatra by the government this year in the wake of the epidemic hit religious tourism in Haridwar the hardest. However, since the Char Dham Yatra was allowed from June 2020 for state residents and residents of other states as well, there was some respite for the sector. Bottled Holy Water, Sterilised Pebbles- All The Changes In Hajj Pilgrimage.
The devotees of ‘Kanwar Yatra’ come from all across the country from places like Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Odisha, Chhattisgarh Jharkhand, and Madhya Pradesh. You will be surprised to know that last year, about 3.5 crore devotees visited Haridwar through the yatra in the auspicious month.