Uttarakhand clamped night curfew across the state and curbed the occupancy of people in large gatherings on Thursday but exempted the Mahakumb from all restrictions despite experts saying the rampant violation of mask protocol and social distancing guidelines at the event was a matter of serious concern.
The government imposed curfew from 10.30pm to 5am every day and allowed only 50% occupancy on public transport. All social, religious, political, or weddings of over 200 people were barred and all cinema halls, restaurants, bars and gyms were asked to operate at 50 % capacity. All educational coaching institutes and swimming pools will be closed, said the government.
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The order came hours after the state reported its highest one-day spike of Covid infections, posting 2,220 cases.
But the order said in case of the Mahakumbh – which is ongoing in Haridwar --- the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by Centre in January and the state government in February will remain in effect. The standard operating procedure does not place any restrictions on the gathering of people and only seeks social distancing and Covid negative test report to enter the Kumbh area.
Activists said the decision was inexplicable. “It is a strange decision at a time when the state has reported the highest daily spike...exempting Mahakumbh area from these restrictions will make it difficult to check Covid in the state in particular and in India in general. Just on Wednesday, Haridwar witnessed pilgrim rush of over 1.3 million people at a time when we are witnessing a sharp surge in Covid cases,” said Anoop Nautiyal, from Social Development for Communities Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.
{{/usCountry}}Activists said the decision was inexplicable. “It is a strange decision at a time when the state has reported the highest daily spike...exempting Mahakumbh area from these restrictions will make it difficult to check Covid in the state in particular and in India in general. Just on Wednesday, Haridwar witnessed pilgrim rush of over 1.3 million people at a time when we are witnessing a sharp surge in Covid cases,” said Anoop Nautiyal, from Social Development for Communities Foundation, a non-governmental organisation.
{{/usCountry}}Hundreds of thousands of people have violated the government’s Covid-19 guidelines since the Mahakumbh began on April 1. On the third “shahi snan” on Wednesday, 1.35 million devotees took a dip in the Ganga,. In the previous “shahi snan” (royal bath) on April 12, 3.1million people participated.
Security personnel handed out challans to some people in the crowd over violations of the Covid-19 norms, but visuals showed that a majority of seers gathered to bathe in the Ganga were in violation of Covid-appropriate behaviour.
After the capital Dehradun (37,743 cases), Haridwar is the worst-hit district in the state with 19575 infections. On Thursday, Haridwar posted 613 cases.