Religious places of worship in Assam to reopen from 8 June subject to max 20 persons per hour

June 1: Since the declaration of nationwide lockdown on 25 March, all religious congregations were prohibited across the country. However, Unlock 1.0 has now witnessed directions to permit religious gathering from 8 June, 2020 subject to certain conditions. No activity whatsoever shall be permitted in the Containment Zones.

The state government has allowed certain activities with strict compliance of social distancing, hygiene and all other protocols as directed earlier by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for containment of COVID-19 epidemic in the country.

As per the new directives issued by Assam Government, Religious places/places of worship for public from 8 June 2020, subject to gathering of maximum 20 (twenty) persons per hour. However, if any religious place has only a small area, the management committee of such religious institutions shall downsize the number of attendees accordingly. All religious institutions shall issue disposable paper tokens to regulate the number of visitors per hour and ensure safe disposal of tokens before entering the religious places.

These guidelines shall be enforced by District Magistrates through fines and penal action as prescribed in Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 besides legal action under Section 188 of the IPC and other legal provisions.