On New Year’s Eve, Goa health minister pitches for night curfew

Minister says Goa should follow the examples of states such as Delhi and Karnataka that have imposed curfews to prevent late night gatherings to celebrate the New Year.

Barely hours ahead of New Year’s Eve celebrations and parties, Goa health minister Vishwajit Rane pitched in for implementation of a night curfew in the state on the lines of similar restrictions imposed in other states.

Goa has reopened for tourism and has lifted restrictions on gatherings, including parties with instructions to follow social distancing. (Hindustan Times)

Rane said that strictness in following the standard operating procedures for containment of Covid-19 infection was the ‘need of the hour’ if the state was to sustain the reopening of the vital tourism sector.

“Goa being a tourism state, it is imperative to have strict SOPs in place, so that we are able to sustain the tourism activities in keeping with the Covid-19 guidelines. [I] spoke to the CM on imposing night curfew in the state on lines of the state of Delhi & Karnataka. The file is already in process,” Rane said via social media.

He added that the Central government had advised enforcement of containment protocols. “I have received a letter from the health secretary, Govt of India (MoHFW) to ensure SOPs and strict protocols are laid down by each state, based on the situation in the respective states,” Rane said.

Goa has reopened for tourism and has lifted restrictions on gatherings, including parties, with the riders that social distancing should be maintained. However, visuals emerging from party hotspots have shown an alarming lack of social distancing as tourists have begun to let their guard down while on holiday.

Goa has witnessed a huge spike in flight arrivals, largely fuelled by holiday makers seeking a good time during the Christmas and New Year period.

The Travel and Tourism Association of Goa has praised the government for ‘helping the industry’ so far with a ‘consistent policy’ instead of constant chopping and changing.

“It is important that the government sensitizes tourists on the need for wearing masks and maintaining protocols as tourists; when they are on a holiday, tourists often tend to be more relaxed than when back home,” Nilesh Shah, the president of the Travel and Tourism Association of Goa, said.

On December 27, the Goa airport handled 72 arrivals and 72 departures with more than 11,000 passengers arriving and nearly an equal number departing, the highest traffic since the lock down and 85% of the pre-Covid levels.