Ambika bhardwaj
Published On: January 12, 2022 at 16:38 IST
Following the Calcutta High Court’s guideline that those who had two doses of Covid-19 vaccine and got negative RT-PCR reports within 72 hours should be allowed into the Gangasagar Mela in South 24-Parganas. The Bengal government decided to launch a large-scale awareness drive.
The district administration has agreed to comply with the Court order and it is speculated that a large number of testing kiosk will be set up near the fair.
“We recognise that full compliance with these guidelines will be a difficult task. As a result, we will initiate an awareness campaign on all the platforms. Our concern is that people who do not satisfy the requirement of double vaccination and negative RT-PCR test results would then learn about the directives before arriving at the Mela,” an official said.
South 24-Parganas district magistrate P. Ulaganathan told The Telegraph that they have really no choice but to implement a precautionary strategy and ensure Covid safety.
On the occasion of Makar Sankranti, approximately one million pilgrims are expected to visit Gangasagar for a sacred dip on Thursday and Friday. According to sources, there is a “high possibility” that a large number of pilgrims will not take into consideration the Court’s orders and try to sneak into the Gangasagar Islands. As a result, avoiding their entry and then completing their RT-PCR tests would be a challenging task.
On Tuesday afternoon, the government has sought clarification from the Supreme Court on its guideline. Ulaganathan explained that the majority of tourists who have showed up so far have a double dose vaccination certificate. Further, he said that he wanted to know if they would permit people with either the double dose vaccine certificate or the negative RT-PCR test results, or both.
“We have already observed a drop in number of visitors,” DM added. They were expecting 30 lakh visitors and anticipated around 3 lakh pilgrims for friday. He also stated that they are prepared to handle any number of visitors.