Navi Mumbai: Anticipating a huge influx of people during the 10-day Ganesh festival, the Raigad district administration issued a circular on Friday, making a 14-day mandatory quarantine for people entering the district after August 7.
The decision has been taken in view of the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, beginning from July 22. The respective gram panchayats have been given the responsibility to implement the decision.
Around three weeks have only left for the 10-day Ganesh Chaturthi festival to begin. People across Maharashtra celebrate the festival with great fervour, especially in the Konkan region. Lakhs of people from Raigad, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts who migrated to other parts of Maharashtra and other states return to their village for the Ganpati festival.
However, this year, due to the pandemic several gram panchayats in Raigad have already passed a resolution for a 14-day mandatory quarantine for people entering after August 7.
As few nodes of Navi Mumbai also fall under the Raigad district where people may also enter from other districts and states. Kharghar, Panvel, Uran, Dronagiri, Ulwe, Karanjade, and a few villages are part of Navi Mumbai.
Nidhi Chaudhary, district collector of Raigad said that the focus is more on the rural areas. “The Navi Mumbai police will issue guidelines for quarantine in consultation with the district administration. Navi Mumbai has a more floating population while the focus of the decision is on rural areas,” said Chaudhary.
Every year, lakhs of people come back to the Raigad district alone during Ganesh Utsav. However, this year, the situation is slightly different. Chaudhary said that they are not expecting many people to enter the district as many of them had already come back when offices were closed during the lockdown.
“There are many remote villages in south Raigad districts where we are expecting a good number of people to return. The purpose is to prevent transmission of COVID-19 in those areas,” said Chaudhary.
Meanwhile, the district administration also advised using digital modes for Ganpati darshan like Facebook live, Cable network, and other digital modes.
Meanwhile, the NMMC in association with the Apollo Hospital Belapur launched the Convalescent Plasma Donation Awareness Programme. Eknath Shinde, Thane district Guardian Minister applauded the efforts of NMMC and appealed to people who were cured of corona infection to donate plasma.
