Jaipur, Sep 7 (IANS): After a gap of over five months, religious places were allowed to reopen in both urban and rural areas of Rajasthan from Monday onwards, subject to strict following of COVID-19 guidelines and protocols issued by the state government.

As per the Home Department guidelines, there is a complete ban on ringing of temple bells, offerings of flowers and petals, garlands, 'prasad' and other material of worship at the religious places.

There will be only one queue of devotees each at entry and exit points to the holy premises. Only 50 devotees will be allowed in the temple periphery at a given point in time while observing the social distance norm.

The devotees can offer prayers from a distance of 50 feet from the idols of deities/gods and goddesses.

Wearing of face masks is mandatory and spitting in public places is banned. The violations will invite heavy penalty.

Meanwhile, a few big temples, including the Govind Dev ji and Moti Dungri Ganesh temple in state capital Jaipur will remain closed in view of the coronavirus infections.

The Ashok Gehlot government had permitted reopening of a few religious places with limited number of devotees in rural areas from July 1 onwards, but large religious places in urban and rural areas remained closed due to the pandemic.

While big temples have been allowed to reopen from September 7, their management committees have been authorised to take the final call on reopening of the premises to devotees. The Rajasthan government will not interfere in their decisions, officials said.