No Sound and Light Show too

Mysore/Mysuru: Are you planning to go to city to enjoy the illumination of Mysore Palace? Then it is better to drop your idea as the authorities of Mysore Palace Board have decided to suspend the Palace illumination on every Sundays and public holidays till further orders in the wake of prevailing COVID-19 pandemic in city.

The illumination and Sound and Light Show were suspended in March after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced nationwide ‘Janata Curfew.’ Though the Government of India announced several relaxations post-lockdown, the Palace Board did not resume illumination and Sound and Light Show as the situation had gone out of control with spike in Corona positive cases and death rate. 

The Palace was lit with around one lakh incandescent bulbs only during Dasara festival from Oct. 17 to 26 whereas the Sound and Light Show had been suspended indefinitely.

“There will be no illumination of Palace on Sundays and on general holidays till further orders owing to prevailing situation. We saw how the crowd behaved during Dasara-2020. Since the entry of people inside the Palace is banned during illumination timing, they will crowd in front of all the entry gates taking pictures. Illumination will resume only after we get permission from Deputy Commissioner Rohini Sindhuri. So, tourists and general public need not come to city to witness the illuminated Palace,” a Senior Officer told Star of Mysore.

Inviting trouble 

The Officer said, after much hard work by District Administration, the situation is slowly limping back to normalcy with slight decrease in Corona positive cases and deaths. At this juncture, allowing people inside the Palace to enjoy the illumination was nothing but inviting trouble. 

“There is every chance of spreading of pandemic through physical contact as majority of them refuse to follow the safety protocol such as wearing face mask, maintaining physical distancing and hand hygiene. We do not want to play with the lives of innocent persons. Nothing is going to happen if the illumination was not done for the next few months,” officer added.

Tough time

The local Police had a tough time to control thousands of people who came out of their houses to enjoy illumination of Circles, main roads and important junctions during the just concluded Dasara festival. Tourists and visiting public flouted the safety protocol issued by Union Health Ministry by gathering on all entrances of the Palace to take selfies with their friends and relatives. This had worried the District Administration as there were chances of outbreak of pandemic, he added. 

It may be mentioned, Health and Medical Education Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar had visited the city twice to take stock of the situation and had issued strict directions to the Police to take stern action against those who defy health guidelines. Even the State Government had banned the entry of tourists and general public inside the Palace on all ten days of Dasara festival.

Daily testing

The Health Department has deployed mobile health teams at Mysore Palace to conduct RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test for tourists before allowing them inside the Palace. During first three days after Dasara festival ended, as many as 12 positive cases were detected. 

This made the Palace authorities to deploy more health personnel to test the tourists. Hence, the citizens and tourists will be denied an opportunity to enjoy the royal illumination till the situation returns to normalcy or the much-needed vaccine arrives.