Anandpur Sahib, Mar 18 : Keeping in view the recent surge in the COVID cases, the Rupnagar district administration has appealed all the international pilgrims who wish to descend down to Sri Anandpur Sahib and Kiratpur Sahib to attend the Holla Mohalla celebrations, to bring with them the COVID negative reports of 72 hours with them.
Likewise, the district administration has also decided to conduct mandatory sampling of all those pilgrims who will stay at the hotels during the celebrations starting from March 24 to 29.
Stating this in a communique on Thursday, Deputy Commissioner Sonali Giri said that in the past few days the district has witnessed the surprised steep rise in COVID-19 cases in the state particularly in district Rupnagar. She said this step has been taken just to check the further spread of Coronavirus into the masses and to keep an eagle’s eye on any suspected case and track its follow up.
She said that undoubtedly Holla Mohalla is very pious festival of Punjab having supreme religious and social importance but the safety of the masses in this adverse scenario must also be ensured. She said the airport authorities of the two international airports of Punjab — Mohali International Airport and Amritsar International Airport — have also been asked to keep a close watch on the international visitors coming to take part in Holla Mohalla and to persuade upon the international pilgrims to undergo COVID test and before moving towards Sri Anandpur Sahib.
Ms Giri appealed the general public also to celebrate this revered Holla Mohalla festival in safe and secure manner and to strictly adhere to the health protocol of wearing mask, keep social distancing and use of sanitizer.(UNI)