No NY revelry in Pondy hotels, resorts

No NY revelry in Pondy hotels, resorts

Entry To Beach Road On First Come, First Served Basis

Bosco.Dominique@timesgroup.com

Puducherry:31.12.2020

After Tamil Nadu and Karnataka banned New Year-eve celebrations in view of Covid-19, the Puducherry administration has imposed several restrictions on the revelry to control the expected influx of merrymakers into the territory.

The administration has banned New Year-eve event in hotels, restaurants and resorts and will allow only an ‘appropriate domain size of visitors’ on the beach road ‘on first come first served basis’. The entire promenade has been divided into zones to enforce protocol.

“All tourists will be subjected to thermal screening at entry points and those with symptoms will checked by special teams. If symptoms are confirmed, they will be isolated and sent to the government hospital for further tests,” said a joint statement issued by the Puducherry administration and police.

The entire town and beach road will be under surveillance through CCTV cameras as well as drone cameras. Plying and parking of all types of heavy vehicles have been banned on the boulevard in boulevard from 2pm on December 31 to 6am on January 1.

Earlier, lieutenant governor Kiran Bedi insisted on banning all types of celebrations, while chief minister V Narayanasamy deciding to allow them by adhering to the presecribed norms.

Narayanasamy said several states including Kerala and Goa had not banned celebrations and clarified that neither the Centre nor any court had imposed a blanket ban. They only insisted that adherence of norms should be ensured, he said and maintained that his administration would take all steps to make sure the prescribed guidelines are followed.

Bedi requested the people to celebrate at home and not to be a part of super-spreaders of Covid-19 infection. She said ‘no celebrations are allowed anywhere’ and requested the tourists not to visit Puducherry and not to be a part of super-spreaders. She pointed out that the Union health and family welfare ministry has warned that New Year celebrations could lead to revelers becoming super-spreaders.