Covid: Numaish expo cancelled

With the rapid increase of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 cases in the city, the 81st All India Industrial Exhibition, also known as Numaish, has been cancelled this year. Exhibition Society secretary Aditya Margam said a notice from the city police commissioner C.V. Anand was received on Thursday morning directing them to close down the exhibition forthwith.

The notice issued by the police commissioner said that in order to contain the spread of Omicron virus, certain precautionary measures had been taken by the government and a GO has been issued restricting rallies, public meetings and mass gatherings across the state.

“We received the notice from Hyderabad police commissioner on Thursday at 11:30 am, asking to close down the exhibition this year, hence the society announced the closure of Numaish. The arrangements are still there at the venue as of now. We asked the stall owners if they want to submit a plea to keep partial functioning of the place but they denied citing that it will not be profitable for them. We also told them they could apply for a refund as many stall owners came from faraway cities. However, a few of them are hopeful that the cancellation will be revoked and told us that they will stay put. The vaccination camp for stall owners arranged by the government is still functioning at the venue,” said Aditya Margam.

The Exhibition Society earlier confirmed that it was going ahead with the Numaish after getting the go-ahead from the government despite a surge in the number of Covid-19 cases and health officials cautioning about an impending third wave driven by the virulent Omicron variant. However, after a day of opening, a notice was issued on the second day to the Exhibition Society, directing them to suspend the event till January 10.