No Entry For Public To Khandagiri Udaygiri Caves, Rajarani Temple On New Year

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Friday decided to close the Khandagiri Udaygiri caves and the Rajarani Temple in the Smart City on January 1 and 2 to avoid public congregation in view of a recent spike in COVID 19 cases in the State.

Releasing an order, the Civic body stated, “With a view to protect the health of public and preventing spread of the COVID-19 virus including the newly detected highly contagious OMICRON variant, it has been decided that Khandagiri & Udayagiri caves and Rajarani Temple will remain closed for public on January 1, 2022 & January 2, 2022.”

“Any person violating the order will be liable to be prosecuted against as per the provisions of Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and COVID-19 Regulations 2020, besides legal action under Sec. 188 of the IPC, and other legal provisions as applicable,” read the BMC notice.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Odisha Special Relief Commissioner had already warned of stern actions against violation of Covid 19 guidelines by the people.

As per a notification issued by the SRC on Thursday, random checking of crowd and gatherings at public places such as picnic spots/ malls/ shopping complexes/ hotels/ clubs/ restaurants/ parks/ convention halls/ kalyan mandaps will be conducted to trace out the violators.

Strict enforcement of COVID-19 safety protocols such as wearing of masks, maintaining social distancing of at least six feet between persons at public places will be checked.

Additional restrictions, as may be felt necessary, will be imposed in the interest of containment of the spread of COVID-19, the notification stated.