Patrol teams to visit Choultries, bakeries, hotels, community halls in city from Apr. 19

Bengaluru: With COVID-19 cases continuing to increase by the day, the State Government has made obtaining permission from jurisdictional Tahsildars and Deputy Commissioners mandatory from now to book Choultries, community halls, convention centres or auditoriums for weddings and other programmes. Rules in this regard will come into force from tomorrow, Mysuru Tahsildar K.R. Rakshit told Star of Mysore this morning. 

Mysuru City Corporation Commissioner Shilpa Nag told SOM that tough restrictions and penalisation of mask-less people will come into effect from tomorrow. The restrictions will be similar to the ones imposed last year just after lockdown. 

“We have formed patrol teams comprising officials and Police to ensure compliance like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing. The teams will visit hotels, tea stalls, gymnasiums, theatres, Choultries and community halls to check the number of people gathered there and also penalise violators without any mercy. We want to prevent the virus from spreading at any cost,” she reiterated. 

Entry into weddings and other functions will be only for those carrying passes, which will be issued by offices of the Tahsildars and DCs. Revenue Minister R. Ashok and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai told presspersons in Bengaluru yesterday that all those booking halls for marriages and other events should obtain prior permission from respective Tahsildars and DCs. 

The restrictions come at a time when wedding season is unfolding. Experts say that these gatherings were turning into COVID super-spreader events. Caterers hopping between weddings and attending to guests are most vulnerable to infection. Most dining halls in choultries in urban areas are in the basement which lack proper ventilation. Since they are also involved in preparing food, they must be tested regularly, experts have stated.  

The DC’s Office would issue 100 passes and 200 passes, respectively, for indoor and outdoor weddings. In the case of community halls/auditoriums already booked, there is no need for permission or pass. 

As per rules, in the case of marriages and political celebrations, 200 people are permitted in an open space, but religious celebrations have been completely banned. If the marriage is in a closed space, the limit is 100, for birthdays and other celebrations 50 people are allowed in open spaces and 25 in closed areas.

In case of funerals, the permissible limit is 50 in an open space and 25 in a closed area. Also for cremations and burials it will be 25 people. 

Stating that all COVID-19 preventive measures and guidelines prescribed by the Government should be strictly followed, an order signed by Chief Secretary P. Ravi Kumar said, the places where such events are held like marriage halls among others must be compulsorily sanitised.

Instructing officials to strictly enforce the measure, it said, action can be taken against those violating under relevant sections of the Disaster Management Act, Indian Penal Code and other laws.