BHOPAL: During the Navratri festivities, one thing has become crystal clear yet again- people have not learnt any lesson from their past mistakes that caused several deaths and mass scale destruction in lakhs of homes during second wave of Covid-19 pandemic.
It was shocking to see that despite experts and health officials repeatedly advising people to adhere to Covid norms, thousands of devotees thronged the Kankali Mata Mandir at Gudawal village in Raisen district (about 20 kms away from Bhopal) on Sunday. And what was even worse was - the way most of the people cocked a snook at Covid norms and mask rule, even though it has been proved that after each festival, Covid cases surge.
Since it was the first weekend of Navratri, over 50000 people visited the temple from 7am till 8pm on Sunday.
“Temple committee had made elaborate arrangements; there were masks provided free of cost to all and sanitiser rule was strictly followed, but the surge of crowds was such that it wasn’t possible to control 50000 people, many of whom removed their masks while singing praises of Mother Goddess and walked very close to one another,” said one of the committee members and a trustee of Kankali Mata Mandir, Fateh Singh Meena.
On their part, temple committee members were making non-stop announcements telling people to maintain adequate social distancing and not remove their masks, very few paid heed among the crowds, said Meena. “Sunday was an unusual day, although on regular days of Navratri, about 5000 devotees come to the temple each day, so it is easier to maintain Covid norms.”
There were over 50 cops at the venue on Sunday, trying to control the crowds.
Also, around 60 volunteers of temple committee and tehsil officials, including patwaris of adjacent villages, were also helping to educate people, but the crowds were busy waiting for their turn to have Goddess’ darshan, lamented Meena.
