NO NEW YEAR EVENTS WITHOUT PERMISSION THIS YEAR, SAYS UP CS

LUCKNOW: This time, no New Year events can be organised without a prior permission from the district magistrate/ police commissioner concerned, according to fresh directives issued by chief secretary, Rajendra Kumar Tiwari here on Monday with a view to prevent spread of the Covid-19.

In a circular to all the officials, the chief secretary (CS) said that possible gatherings during the New Year celebrations could pose a greater risk of the spread of the infection. Stressing the need for being on a high alert, he asked officials to ensure full compliance of the Covid-19 protocol.

“Any New Year event must be organised only after obtaining a prior permission from the concerning DM and the police commissioner with the organiser to give all the details including the estimated number of people that may attend the programme,” he said.

As per the directions people can gather in a closed hall up to 50% capacity of the place but not more than 100 persons at a time while the limit for the open space will be 40% with all other arrangements like thermal scanning, sanitization, masking, social distancing etc to be in place. The officers have been asked to use public address sys

tem to appeal to people to celebrate the New Year at home as much as possible. The CS said that effective patrolling must done around the places where New Year celebrations were held and any prompt action be taken against anyone found spreading fake or inflammatory messages through social media.

He said adequate police force must be deployed near liquor shops, hotels, restaurants, malls, metro stations, bus stations and railway stations and action taken against ant-social elements.