With Unlock 5.0, state governments have taken several decisions to restore normalcy amidst Coronavirus. The state has given permission for inter-state travel without a pass and has allowed the bar and theatres to open doors from October 15 with a new set of guidelines. For Inter-state travel, the states have allowed entry without any restrictions. However, the school will remain shut till October 31.
Apart from this, in view of Navratri starting from November 17, seven thousand local travelers will be allowed to visit Shri Mata Vaishno Devi every day. Previously, only five thousand people were allowed to visit the holy shrine. The online registration of the yatra will continue as before. After reviewing the situation, the CEO of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board will decide to start the palanquin service and the number of passengers coming from outside.
The state administration has decided to open the bar from October 9, which has been closed for nearly six months. Sticking to the state’s guideline, the authority has decided to open cinema houses and swimming pools from October 15. The ban on religious processions in the state will remain intact, but in the event of maintaining physical distance, there will be no restriction on people attending the ceremony in an open place. Also, a hall can accommodate a maximum of 200 people for a ceremony. If the hall is small, half the people will be allowed to be present.
In August, the holy cave shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi in Jammu & Kashmir’s Reasi district resumed for pilgrimage after nearly 5 months of suspension due to the novel coronavirus. Initially, there were restrictions that included a cap on the number of people allowed to visit the shrine every day, keeping in view the safety guidelines to curb the spread of Covid-19 disease. Recently, the shrine board has increased the quota for pilgrims from outside Jammu & Kashmir from 100 to 500 people daily.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam issued an order to start Unlock-5 on Thursday. During this meeting, concerns regarding the spread of viruses by travel, the danger of spreading the infection from travel, and the situation of infection in the coming time were raised and discussed. Based on the transition, the decision to classify the state in the category of Red, Orange, and Green zones will be reviewed from time to time.
