Following anti-Covid norm must but no one to be troubled during Haridwar Kumbh: Tirath Singh Rawat

Following anti-Covid precautions is necessary during the ongoing Haridwar Kumbh but no one should be deprived of taking a holy dip in the Ganga during it, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat said on Sunday. The new chief minister also announced that his government has decided to withdraw cases against 4,500 people booked for allegedly violating the anti-Covid guidelines during the lockdown in the state.

Rawat said it while reiterating his government’s commitment to ensuring a grand Kumbh in Haridwar, which, he said, is held only once in 12 years and is a significant occasion not only for the state but for the country and the entire world.

As per an official communique, the chief minister said it is necessary to follow all anti-Covid guidelines during the Kumbh but the people participating in it do not have to be inconvenienced.

“We do not have to deprive people of taking a holy dip in the Ganga,” said Rawat, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “unique working style” which, he said, enabled the government to take care of people’s need even during the Covid lockdown.

It is the PM’s “unique working style” which gave rise to the “Modi hai to mumkin hai” (everything is feasible with Modi being around) slogan, the chief minister said.

The chief minister said it is because of his eagerness to hold a grand Kumb in Haridwar that he got the seers, taking holy dips in the Ganga at Brahmkund on Maha Shivratri, from a helicopter.

He said on the occasion lakhs of people bathed in the Ganga and his government’s arrangements pleased both the public and seers besides the trading community.

Rawat said the government is taking steps to increase the number of buses and trains reaching the Haridwar Kumbh.

He said the service to the people itself is the service to God and in the time to come, Prime Minister Modi would be hailed all over the world for his service to the nation.

On the occasion, All-India Akhara Parishad chief Mahant Narendra Giri too praised the government work for the Haridwar Kumbh and said the efforts must be made to better it than Allahabad Kumbh.