The bell at Madhya Pradesh's Pashupatinath Temple rings after sensor picks up presence of people
While temples have been reopened in parts of India with stringent rules to maintain social distancing and avoid contact in the time of coronavirus, one temple in Madhya Pradesh has used innovation to ensure devotees don't miss too much.
A contactless bell has been installed at the famous Pashupatinath temple in Mandsaur. "It works on sensors," the temple administration told news agency ANI.
The bell rings when it is able to detect the presence people nearby and devotees are apparently happy with the arrangement.
This contactless bell has reportedly been developed by an elderly Muslim man to ensure the no-physical-contact rule is maintained, says Press Trust of India.
"When I saw that 'azaan' was allowed in mosques after the coronavirus lockdown was relaxed and religious places were opened for devotees, I thought that people should also be allowed to ring bells in temples," 62-year-old Nahru Khan Mev, the man behind the sensor-operated bell told PTI on Sunday.
"Keeping this in mind, I got a sensor from Indore and prepared a machine at my factory at a cost of about Rs 6,000 and presented the bell to the temple," Nahru Khan Mev said.
The Pashupatinath temple opened to devotees on June 8 after a gap of 76 days, like many places of worship across India.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that his government has controlled the spread of coronavirus in the state to a large extent. He said if 200 cases are reported daily then the same number of patients is also recovering.
As per the Union Health Ministry, there are over 10,500 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh and 440 deaths.