london gurdwaras in britain will start to reopen on sunday for individual prayer but some are unhappy with the covid19 measures that have been put in place the shrines however remain closed for collective worship study classes and tourism purposes and kirtan is still not allowed collective worship is not expected to resume until july 4 at the earliestjatinder singh who sits on the management committee of guru nanak gurdwara smethwick said the reopening places of worship taskforce did not properly consult the sikh community and has organised the reopening more through a christian prism the conduct of our programmes cannot be dictated the conduct of our stage darbar cannot be interfered with it has continued even during battles it does not get changed the government should not interfere with itkirtan has to happen it is part of our service jatinder saidthe latest government covid19 guidance for the safe use of places of worship states that faith leaders should strongly discourage people above 70 from attending faith gatheringsbut some gurdwaras think that with social distancing good hygiene and limited numbers the elderly should be allowed to attendthis does not take into account the way of life for sikhs that sangat is a big part of the gurudwara setup jatinder continued those above 70 should be allowed to come if they wish to and take precautionary measures such as washing hands and wearing face masks there should not be an age limit many people over 70 live alone and rely on the gurudwara for social interaction they want to come back for individual prayerthe guidance also states that no food or drink should be made available even though the smethwick gurudwara like many others has been open throughout the pandemic preparing 3000 langar a day and delivering it to the needywhat about prashad jatinder said why would giving prashad make any difference it can be put in a takeaway bagthere is no science that backs up the notion the virus spreads through food said harmeet singh gill general secretary of the sri guru singh sabha southall the over 70s have been kept in lockdown long enough and that is not good for their health they are saying worshippers cant be present for collective worship and it does not make sense there is no distinction where they sit inside whether it is for communal or individual prayer it feels like they are making it up as they go along a core tenet of our faith is collective prayer we want to open for congregational worship gill addedour donations are down but we have also reduced our costs and had a lot of donated food i think the smaller gurdwaras are most affected he saidwe will follow the guidelines as we dont want to put someone in danger said satvinder singh dadiahla joint general secretary of the sri guru singh sabha hounslow many people were giving us standing orders online before the pandemicthe kirtan will go on behind closed doors we are just