Dharamsala, Feb 28 : After nearly two years of closure for the public owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the hilltop Tsuglagkhang temple close to the official residence of the Dalai Lama at McLeodganj near here will be reopened for the visitors from March 3, it was announced on Monday. March 3 is the start of the week-long festival Losar -- Tibetan New Year Day. "For the benefit of all devotees and visitors, we request all to follow the precautionary protocols of wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing and hand sanitization," said a statement by Thekchen Choeling Charitable Society. Special prayers will mark the reopening of the Tsuglagkhang temple on the first day, officials told IANS. The Dalai Lama lives in exile along with some 140,000 Tibetans, over 100,000 of them in India. The Tibetan exile administration is based in this northern Indian hill town. /IANS