Tourists visit the Mall Road after relaxation in COVID-19 curfew in Manali on July 3
The Manali administration has said that people flouting Covid-19 rules will have to face punitive action. According to news agency ANI, Rs 5,000 will be slapped on those not adhering to the Covid-19 rules or may face jail for up to 8 days.
Gurudev Sharma, SP, Kullu, informed that over Rs 3 lakh challans have been issued in the last seven days.
The new rules have been framed after photos and videos of crowd thronging Manali went viral on social media. Notably, Himachal Pradesh has been witnessing a massive inflow of tourists after the state government announced to relax Covid-19 restrictions.
Several photos that are doing the rounds on social media platforms show the famous Mall road overcrowded.
In less than a month starting from June, there has been traffic of around 6-7 lakh tourists in the Himalayan state. As the number of new COVID cases started declining in the country, tourists have started thronging to the destinations like Shimla, Manali, Dharamshala, Dalhousie, Narkanda and other parts of the state.
Earlier this week, the Health Ministry said that it was “frightening" to see pictures of tourists thronging hill stations amid the pandemic and asked people to comply with Covid-appropriate behavior. The Minister even warned that restrictions may return if people are found violating the Covid-19 protocols.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi too expressed concerns over people flouting the Covid protocols. The Prime Minister instructed his ministers to actively participate in Covid management.
READ MORE | Himachal Pradesh sees massive inflow of tourists following relaxations in COVID restrictions
