HC raps U’khand for flouting SOPS

DEHRADUN: The Uttarakhand high court on Thursday pulled up the state government over the Covid-19 norm violations both during the opening of the Char Dham shrines and the recently concluded Mahakumbh.

The bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice Alok Verma said that videos circulating on social media showed that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPS) introduced amid a rise in the coronavirus disease cases were being flouted during the opening of the portals of the shrines.

“In Kedarnath and Badrinath temples, I have seen videos that social distancing is not being followed by the priests. Even if the deity is being worshipped, you can’t let 23 priests enter the temple. Who is the person appointed by the state to monitor this?,” web portal Live Law quoted the Chief Justice as saying.

The portals of the Badrinath shrine in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district were opened on Tuesday after being closed in November. The Kedarnath shrine was opened on Monday.

The high court said that government first allowed the Mahakumbh to be held without adherence to the Covid protocols and was doing the same during the opening of the shrines.

“First we allowed Kumbh Mela 2021 and now this is being done. Please get a chopper and visit Char Dham, go to Kedarnath and Badrinath and see for yourself, what is happening,” Live Law quoted the bench as saying to the state counsel.

The state government earlier drew the court and health experts’ ire for its handling of the Mahakumbh, held from January 14 to April 27.

At least 9.1 million pilgrims visited Haridwar for the Mahakumbh, the event’s organisers said in April, underlining the risk of infection at the mega event that was widely criticised for rampant violation of Covid-19 protocols and massive overcrowding during an alarming surge in cases that inundated hospitals and sparked critical shortages of medical supplies. The state on Thursday reported 3,658 fresh cases and 80 fatalities, taking the total count to 303,940 and 5,484, respectively.

On May 10, the high court pulled up the state government over its lack of preparedness to deal with the second wave of the pandemic. “Despite the fact that in January 2021 the scientific community kept on warning about the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the State did not pay any heed,” the court said. The Uttarakhand HC also criticised the Centre for its “callous” attitude towards allocating oxygen to the state. “Why is it that the government is not conceding to a reasonable request?... All we are saying, instead of asking us to import oxygen from Jamshedpur and Durgapur, why can’t we take from our own backyard?,” Bar & Bench quoted the court as saying.