With daily Covid cases in the range of 200-250 over last week, the Odisha government on Saturday allowed all cultural activities, including jatra and open-air theatres, with a maximum attendance of 2000 people, officials said.
In his order, Special Relief Commissioner PK Jena said cultural gatherings/programmes including melodies, orchestra/jatra/opera, dances-classical, folk and other permitted dance forms, cultural competitions, open-air theatres/drama/nukkad natak/street plays/other such performances would be allowed to open with due compliance to Covid-19 protocols.
Jatras are travelling open-air theatres that are very popular in rural and semi-urban Odisha and perform shows on social issues at night. Over 40000 artists and technicians depend on jatra.
However, only 2000 persons would be allowed to attend such shows and will have to maintain a distance of 6 feet from each other. Everyone in the audience will have to wear face masks.
Expressing happiness, Daitari Panda, president of Jatra Kalakar Sangh, said, the permission to have 2000 people watch jatra shows is a welcome step to stop the industry from dying. “Though we had permission to organise Jatra with a provision of 500 audiences, it was not enough to revive the industry and the artists,” he said. With jatra troupes unable to hold shows, many artists had taken to selling vegetables, fish and fruits to run their families.
The government said the facility for online booking of tickets may be arranged by the organisers and a sufficient number of counters should be opened to prevent crowding during the booking of offline tickets. For indoor halls, the number of viewers/spectators will not exceed 50% of the seating capacity of the hall.
{{/usCountry}}The government said the facility for online booking of tickets may be arranged by the organisers and a sufficient number of counters should be opened to prevent crowding during the booking of offline tickets. For indoor halls, the number of viewers/spectators will not exceed 50% of the seating capacity of the hall.
{{/usCountry}}The order said cinema halls, theatres would be allowed to open with up to 50% of capacity and operate with due compliance to Covid protocols. In such places, people having two-dose vaccination certificates and Rapid Antigen Test and RT-PCR negative reports obtained within 72 hours prior will be allowed to attend.
The government also said vulnerable people such as those above 65 years of age, persons with co-morbidities and pregnant women are not advised to attend the function. Chewing of Gutkha/Paan and spitting at such shows has been prohibited.
On Saturday, Odisha reported 239 new Covid cases and 2 deaths in the last 24 hours. Officially, 8391 people have succumbed to Covid. Its highest single day case was reported on May 22 when 12,852 people tested positive.
The state government has so far allowed the opening of schools for students studying in classes 6 and above.
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