Kolkata, Jul 1 (IANS): After almost 100-day closure owing to the coronavirus-triggered lockdown, Kolkata's famous Kalighat Temple finally reopened its doors to devotees on Wednesday.

Following stringent guidelines, devotees thronged the temple premises in the morning. The gates of the temple were opened at 6 am.

According to sources at the Kalighat Temple, the devotees will have to pass through a sanitizing channel, a long corridor that will spray sanitizers on all the outsiders who will enter the temple premises. No one will be allowed inside the main shrine of the century-old shrine.

The entry is restricted to only 10 people at a time and the doors of entry and exit have been changed. The temple will remain open from 6 am to 12 noon and again from 4 pm to 6.30 pm every day.

Sources said that no devotee will be allowed to touch the deity anymore and no prasad will be offered inside the premises. The new rules have made it compulsory to wear masks before entering the temple.

The Kalighat Temple is one of the 51 Shakti Peethas that attracts thousands of devotees from different parts of the country every day.

Earlier on June 23, the Tarapith Temple in West Bengal's Birbhum district was reopened to devotees almost after three months of closure in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.