Meghalaya Govt to revisit protocols for reopening of religious places

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaSeptember 7, 2020

The state government has constituted a sub-committee to be headed by the Chief Secretary MS Rao for revisiting the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and protocols before reopening of religious places across the state.

The decision was taken at a meeting convened by the Chief Minister, Conrad K Sangma with leaders of different religious leaders under the banner of the Shillong All Faiths Forum (SAFF) at the state secretariat here on Monday.

After the meeting, Deputy Chief Minister, Prestone Tynsong told reporters that the chief secretary will immediately hold a meeting of the sub-committee within this week, to revisit these SOPs and protocols, which the government had notified two months ago.

He said that the committee will also have representatives from the Shillong All Faiths Forum as its members.

In the latest guidelines for the fourth stage of ‘Unlock’, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has allowed social, political, religious functions with a ceiling of 100 persons with effect from September 21.

Tynsong however said that allowing only 100 people is not reasonable as there are churches that can accommodate more than this as they have enough spaces for maintaining social distancing.

“Therefore, the committee will sit to revisit the SOPs and protocols and come back to the government for notifying it,” he added.

The deputy chief minister further informed that if the COVID-19 situation in the state improves, the leaders of the forum have expressed that they are ready to start reopening religious places and places of worship by the first week of October.

Asked, Tynsong said that the COVID-19 has already spread to the community but is still under control. “But we are hopeful that by the grace of the Almighty, the situation will improve in the state,” he said.

The state has so far recorded over 3,000 positive cases of which 16 have died due to the viral infection.

To another query, Tynsong said that no doubt that the COVID-19 cases are on the rise, but if compared with other states, Meghalaya is still better.