With a sharp rise in the daily cases of COVID-19, the district administrations in Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Ranipet and Tirupattur have banned the holding of Jallikattu events ahead of the Pongal festival as a part of safety measures. A large group of Jallikattu enthusiasts gheraoed the Vellore Collectorate a few days ago, seeking permission from Collector P. Kumaravel Pandian to organize the event during the festival.
After the daily cases in Vellore reached 295 on Sunday, the administration has banned the event by directing revenue officials and police to stop any such activity, especially in remote villages of the district.
“During a pandemic, such large public events are automatically banned to prevent the spread of infection. Special health and police teams were formed to investigate any violation on the COVID-19 norms,” Ranipet Collector D. Bhaskar Pandian says Hindu,
Special revenue and police teams were also deployed in Jallikattu hotspots like Arani, Polur, Chengam, Cheyyar and Vandavasi during the festival, especially in Tiruvannamalai to prevent the event from being organized in remote villages along the Javadhu hills. After a meeting with the organizers of the event, the Revenue Divisional Officers (RDOs) also got a written undertaking from the organizers in these areas that they would not organize such events due to the pandemic.
Shops shifted
Shops in congested towns of Ranipet district, including Arcot, Wallajah, Arakkonam, Ranipet town and Sholingur, are allowed to operate with adequate social distancing. An average distance of 20-30 feet between each shop in these markets has been planned with social distancing circles in front of the shop. Mobile health and police teams will patrol these congested places. At present, 3,750 beds are available in hospitals along with seven COVID-19 care centres, covering all the seven taluks of the district.
The neighboring district of Tiruvannamalai, the largest of the four, held several meetings with traders and small traders to move the existing market to the outskirts of the temple town.
Accordingly, the mango market for flowers and vegetables will start functioning from Monday from two playgrounds, one in front of the Municipal Corporation office and the other near Gandhi Nagar Bypass Road in the city. Tiruvannamalai Collector B. Murugesh inspected these temporary markets, which would have 340 shops, including 150 flower shops.
“Basic facilities like water, toilets, bus service and public address system were provided in these markets. From Monday (January 10), devotees will be allowed to visit Arunachaleswara temple only after showing two doses of vaccination certificate,” said Tiruvannamalai SP A Pawan Kumar Reddy.
peaceful lockdown
Meanwhile, complete lockdown remained peaceful in all the four districts on Sunday. Around 2,750 police personnel were deployed to enforce the ban. In these districts, there was a team of four policemen at each of the barricaded posts. Only emergency services and competitive examinations were allowed with valid documents. Essential services like milk, food delivery through online portals, parcels from hotels and pharmacies were allowed to operate.
A total of 253 patrols were involved to ensure zero violation of lockdown restrictions in Vellore. “The passengers, except for medical services, were asked to return to six border posts in the districts. Drones were also inducted to ensure 100% compliance,” said Vellore SP S Rajesh Kannan.
Helplines were also launched for issues related to COVID-19 including availability of beds in Tirupattur and Ranipet. The helpline numbers for Ranipet are 04172-273188; 04172-273166; 9489668833; 9443093916 and 04179-222111 for Tirupattur; 04179-220020; 04179-226666; 04179-229008; 04179-1077. ,
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