Screengrab from video
Ramanagara: Thousands of Kolagondanahalli villagers gathered for a village fair on Thursday, May 14, blatantly disregarding the social distancing norms put in place to curb the spread of COVID-19.
According to a report by ANI, permission for the religious gathering was granted by Panchayat development officer NC Kalmatta. It is reported that the Ramanagara Deputy Commissioner has suspended the officer after a report was submitted by the Tahsildar.
The gathering in Ramanagara on Thursday was in honour of goddess Maramma. Thousands of devotees reportedly attended the fair, all of whom were standing close to each other. Additionally, footage of the incident showed that none of the attendees even wore masks.
A Twitter user had posted a video of the religious gathering and in the tweet, wrote that among the prayers offered to the Gods, one was an appeal to rid the world of the novel coronavirus. “All this while the violate norms to contain the virus,” he wrote.
The irony : Hundreds gather at a village in Ramanagar for a religious fair, prayers included an appeal to the Gods to get rid of the #CoronaVirus. All this while they violate norms to contain the virus.
No #Masks.
No #SocialDistanacing. #COVID19 #COVID?19 #lockdown pic.twitter.com/3uvSE2694v— Deepak Bopanna (@dpkBopanna) May 14, 2020
It can be recalled that gatherings of any sort, including those of a religious nature, have been banned across the country in a bid to control the spread of COVID-19.
It can be noted that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Karnataka has breached the 1000 mark. However, Ramanagara is a green zone.
