Small business owners, shopkeepers and event planners, who were looking forward to upcoming festivals in the hope of making up for the losses they incurred last year, will have to brace themselves for another low-key festive season. Days after an advisory from the Centre, the State government on Thursday issued an order banning public festivities until further notice.
Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar directed authorities to ensure strict compliance of the order. “All authorities will ensure that public gatherings and congregation during the upcoming religious festivals such as Holi, Ugadi, Shab-e-Barat, Good Friday etc. shall not be allowed in public places/grounds/parks/markets/religious places in Karnataka,” Mr. Kumar said in the order.
The Ugadi-Holi season is marked by several chariot festivals across the State, which will be impacted by this order. Karaga, scheduled in April, in the city will also likely be affected. Last year, too, Karaga was held with no congregation of devotees and the procession was limited to the Dharmaraya Swamy temple.
Action would be taken against persons violating the order under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and the Karnataka Epidemic Diseases Act, 2020.
In the wake of a surge in COVID-19 cases in Bengaluru and reports that the new mutant of the virus spreads faster than the earlier variant, Health Minister K. Sudhakar, after a meeting with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike officials on Thursday, advised citizens to “be careful for the next two months”.
“Earlier, even when a person contracted COVID-19, other members of the family in the same house did not test positive in most cases. But this time, whole families are getting infected together. Moreover, nearly 70% of the caseload is being observed in apartments, indicating how the virus variant spreads faster,” he said, adding “the new mutant version had been found in 700 cases so far”.
Appeal to people
The Minister appealed to the public to cooperate with the authorities, avoid public gatherings and follow COVID-19 appropriate behaviour for the next few months. “The mask rule and restrictions imposed on public gatherings will be implemented strictly and violations will be penalised. Organisers of gatherings and owners of venues will be booked and penalised for violations,” he said.
The State government had recently limited public gatherings to a maximum of 200 in closed-door events and 500 in open spaces.
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