Shimla: Tourists have thronged Shimla to celebrate the New Year, but are violating the COVID-19 restrictions despite a surge in cases.
Speaking to ANI, Karan, a local resident said, "Himachal Pradesh is a tourist destination, so people have thronged here for New Year celebrations. But tourists are not following the COVID-19 norms. They are not wearing masks or maintaining social distancing." "However, the local residents of Shimla are properly following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour. I think the state government should impose stricter norms and also track COVID-19 positive case if any," he said.
Further, Karan said that the police personnel should not argue with the violators but should issue challans.
Many tourists were seen without masks in Shimla as they said that they removed the masks for clicking pictures.
"I have just removed the mask for clicking pictures. I will wear it after it," a tourist without a mask said.
The local administration has divided Shimla into seven and police into seven six sectors to control the crowd ahead of the tourist rush for the New Year celebrations.
"As more tourists prefer to visit Shimla on New Year in comparison to Christmas, we have divided Shimla into seven sectors and a magistrate has been appointed for each sector. Police have also been divided in the city into six sectors. Amid COVID-19 fears, we have deployed additional 250 Policemen for tourists in addition to 400 policemen deployed for the winter season; they are also being deputed for the New Year special duty", said Aditya Negi, the Deputy Commissioner of Shimla district administration.
"The force has also been deployed to implement the Covid-19 protocol amid the fear of Omicron. The local administration is expecting 40 to 45 thousand people for the New Year Celebration in Shimla. This year in comparison to previous years the tourists' arrival on New Year would be less. The administration is fully prepared to welcome the tourists and also directed to implement appropriate COVID-19 behaviour. Tourists are also moving to the outskirts of Shimla city instead of coming to a crowded place", added the Deputy Commissioner of Shimla district administration.
