Navratri Festival from 17th October: Here’s all that will be different this year.

Navratri amidst the pandemic is to be organized carefully, keeping in mind the health and safety of the people who would be profoundly involved in the celebrations. Navratri every year is a big shenanigan, with thousands of Indoris gathering around their center of choice to dance, socialize and pray together. Keeping in mind the threat of COVID-19, this year the M.P. Government has issued new guidelines to ensure the safety of citizens. Imposed by the Ministry of home affairs, all the Collectors are instructed to follow them for any organization for the Navratri Festival. These guidelines include the following pointers:

• The maximum height of a Durga statue is 6 feet and the max size for Pandal is 10×10 ft.
• A fixed number of 100 people can organize any social/cultural event for Navratri that too with prior permissions from the authorities
• According to the guidelines, neither the processions nor the Garba dances shall be performed. It is mandatory to follow the Supreme Court issued orders regarding the use of Loudspeakers
• Not more than ten people are allowed to be present for immersion of the Durga Idol as per the guidelines and prior written permission issued from the district administration by the organizers is mandatory.
• For the pandal event and the Idol immersion ceremony the devotees have to compulsory wear face covers/masks, use sanitizers, and practice social distancing.
• All the shops can be open till 8:00 p.m. Businesses like restaurants, eatery, catering, medical stores, ration, etc. can be open after eight p.m. too.
• Strict action shall be imposed on those who idle around after 10:30 p.m. and before 6:00 a.m.
• Garbage is banned on site of gatherings
• The district administration shall survey and allot places and locations for Idol immersion to avoid congestion at the site.
• Strict action and penalty have been authorized for those who do not follow these regulations and are caught breaking the guidelines.

Due to the limited nature of celebrations this year, the select Durga temples in the city had opened booking 15 days before offering Mother Durga’s dressings. The nine-day booking for the sixteen adornments of the Goddess has been completed. The items shall be taken in the temples a day prior and sanitized before being adorned on the deity. Other offerings like flowers, garlands, etc shall not be taken from devotees this time. The four major Durga temples of the city include Bijasan, Annapurna, Mahalakshmi, and Kalimata are all set with full nine-day bookings for Goddess’ adornments.

This year a lot of the artisans were afraid to start work before any guidelines were to be announced, now it’s a major complaint that the guidelines came late because of which only 25% of the usual number of Durga Idols could be prepared on time. Every year a whopping number of 20,000 idols are made, this year the number could only reach up to 5000. Only a limited number of sculptors could come from Bengal this year and it is becoming unusually difficult to fulfill the demand of orders that flowing from customers. There are neither enough artisans nor sculptures to fulfill the flow of demand. In general, this year’s Navratri will see a lot of change in the usual trends as people learn to live and celebrate amidst the pandemic.

We urge all our viewers and followers to support the government and the authorities in their endeavor to fight this pandemic in the country. We urge them to not panic and stay positive and kind to all those who are battling with this virus, stay aware and safe, and assist the authorities in any way you can to prevent further spreading of this virus.

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