Gaiety Theatre, IIAS closed; community meals banned
SHIMLA: Himachal government has ordered closure of Indian Institute of Advanced Studies and Gaiety theatre here for foreign and domestic tourists till March 31.
The district administration also banned langars and bhandaras in the district till March 31as a precautionary measure to arrest coronavirus spread. All government and private educational institutes have also been closed till March 31.
Shimla deputy commissioner Amit Kashyap on Monday said “In order to mitigate COVID-19 threat in Shimla district, all dhabas, bars, food courts, restaurants, hotels will maintain proper health hygiene and the staff engaged in cooking and serving food will wear masks to avoid transmission.
Apart from this, no conferences, events, rallies, dharnas, protests will be organised in the district till March 31. Also, no massage centres, spas, swimming pool, sauna, gyms shall operate in the district till March 31, 2020.”
He said managing director HRTC will ensure that all public and private buses operating in the district would be sanitised with the prescribed disinfectants at regular intervals. The transport department will sensitise drivers, conductors and cleaners through their staff and necessary advisory will be displayed at the bus stands and inside the buses and taxis.
Amit Kashyap said that tourism director will ensure proper precautionary measures are being taken by all hotels, home stay units to control the outbreak. All tourists coming from abroad will furnish their information on the prescribed selfdeclaration formats.
He further informed that director, health services will take all necessary steps regarding training of health officials, surveillance personnel and providing equipments, medicines for prevention and control of COVID-19 in time. He directed the Beopar Mandals to implement the directions for maintaining cleanliness.
CONGRESS CANCELS PROGRAMMES
State Congress president Kuldeep Singh Rathore on Monday said the Congress has cancelled its upcoming programmes in the state due to coronavirus. “As a precautionary measure, Congress will not be holding any meeting for a while,” he said.
He said, “State government does not have sufficient masks and sanitisers while government civil supply medical shops are indulging in black marketing and hoardings. The government should take stringent action against those involved in malpractice of masks and sanitisers.”
Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh High Court Bar Association on Monday declared that only urgent matters should be listed before the courts till March 31 in view of the coronavirus pandemic. “The general house has decided that only urgent matters may be listed before the courts and no regular and hearing matters shall be listed till March 31,” the Bar Association said in a letter to the Registrar of the High Court.