Maharashtra bans gatherings, human pyramids for Dahi Handi festival tomorrow

Maharashtra directed the organisers of Dahi Handi festival to hold symbolic events and broadcast them on TV and on online platform to avoid crowding and control the spread of Covid-19.

The Maharashtra government on Monday prohibited all sorts of public gatherings, including human pyramids, for the Dahi Handi festival to be observed on Tuesday in view of the rising cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the state.

A woman buys an earthen pot to celebrate Dahi Handi ahead of the Gokulashtami festival from a shop at Jambhali Naka Market, in Thane, Mumbai, on Saturday. (HT photo)

The Maharashtra home department has directed the organisers of Dahi Handi festival to hold "symbolic events" and broadcast them through local cable television network and on online platform to avoid crowding.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) trained its guns on the Uddhav Thackeray-led government and asked why it enforced restrictions "on Hindu festivals in Maharashtra”.

Last week, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had urged the organisers of the Dahi Handi festival to put health and safety amid the Covid-19 pandemic first before festivities.

The chief of the state Covid-19 task force Dr Sanjay Oak said it is not possible to physical distancing during the Dahi Handi festival as people come in close contact with each other while forming human pyramids.

Maharashtra registered 4,666 cases of Covid-19 infection, taking the infection tally to 64,56,939, while 131 people succumbed to the viral disease in the past 24 hours on Monday. The civic body said at least 18 children had tested positive for the virus at a children's home in Mankhurd near Mumbai.