SAY NO TO OVERCROWDING

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has acknowledged the cultural significance of Kanwar Yatra but reiterated that his government’s priority remains saving lives amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The development comes hours after the Indian Medical Association or IMA wrote to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to disallow the Kanwar Yatra this year in light of the possible third wave of the pandemic.

Every year, thousands of ‘Kanwariyas’ (devotees of Lord Shiva) from northern states travel on foot or by other means to collect water from River Ganga at Haridwar to offer at Shiva temples in their areas as part of the yatra. But due to ongoing pandemic situation, IMA has suggested for cancellation of the yatra as this may act as super spreaders.

Recently P M Narendra Modi has called out maskless tourists and those who are violating the norms by going to crowded markets that could be the invitation to third wave of covid. We had recently faced a worst nightmare of second wave; still people are forgetting those painful lesson and continue to violate the norms.

Although, we all know covid never distinguishes between pilgrimage, tours and shopping etc. Earlier, this year Kumbh act as super spreader and we all familiar with the previous wave. Now, we even know the different variants. These are enough evidences to deny kanwar yatra for this year.

UP CM Yogi Adityanath has suggested to allow the yatra with a restricted number of kanwariyas . Religious events in India are always chaotic and it’s always difficult to manage the huge crowd during festivities. Even countries like Saudi Arabia allowed Hajj to only 60,000 pilgrimages including people who are only fully vaccinated and disallowing believers from abroad for a second straight year. This is a model every country should follow-either cancel these gatherings or proceed with only fully vaccinated ones.

Government must take appropriate action to discourage mass gatherings, irrespective of any reason behind these crowds. Season of festivals also approaching but we should not forget the learnt lessons from past. This celebration should depend on the pace of vaccination and how quickly the virus is spreading. Only disallowing mass gathering and proper vaccination is the only option.