She said the proposals and requests were presented to the ministry through engagement sessions with the temple managements in several states.

Yesterday, DAP’s P Ramasamy lashed out at the Thaipusam SOPs, labelling them nonsensical, and accused Halimah of going back on her word.

The Penang deputy chief minister II claimed that the minister had previously been “agreeable” to a chariot procession with 500 devotees accompanying it, instead of the 100 as announced by her.

Halimah explained today that all SOP proposals were brought to the Covid-19 Quartet Ministers Meeting for approval based on the need to ensure public safety and health.

“However, those who were not present during the engagement sessions issued statements claiming that I had made promises regarding the SOP,” she said after checking on preparations at the Sri Subramaniar Swamy Temple in Batu Caves, Selangor.

Halimah announced the SOPs which, among others, stipulated that only the “paal kudam”  (milk offerings), prayer activities, and chariot processions would be allowed while the carrying of kavadis was not permitted during this year’s festival.

She said “paal kudam” was allowed from tomorrow until Jan 19 with the number of devotees allowed to be set according to the various temples. The SOPs also stated that only a limited number of prayer sessions could be held while chariot processions could make limited stops, aside from having only 100 devotees following it.

According to Halimah, 12 prayer sessions had been set from Jan 16-17 and Jan 19 from 5am to 5pm, while 18 sessions were set for Jan 18 from 5am to 11pm. The number of people allowed at each session would be set by individual temples, which would have to be sanitised after each session.

On the SOPs at the Batu Caves temple, Halimah said the temple management would adhere to the ruling that only 6,000 devotees be allowed every day and only 500 individuals could attend each prayer session.