Delhi BJP chief slams AAP govt's ban on Chhath Puja at public places

Hitting out at the Arvind Kejriwal government, Delhi BJP chief Adesh Gupta on Thursday said that if the Delhi government had taken the right measures to tackle COVID-19 then people would not have had problems celebrating Chhath Puja together.

"If the Delhi government had taken the right measures people would not have had problems celebrating Chhath Puja together. Markets should remain open with COVID-19 guidelines in place," Gupta told reporters here.

The Delhi Disaster Management Committee (DDMC) had ordered that Chhath Puja will not be held at any public place this time due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The DDMC had suggested that people can worship and celebrate the festival in private places. People from Purvanchal are not happy with this decision and a delegation of the Chhath Puja Sangharsh Samiti had urged the Delhi government to reconsider their decision.

However, the Delhi government has declared November 20 as a public holiday on account of 'Chhath Puja'."Chhath Puja is an important festival for the people of NCT of Delhi. Accordingly, the Government of NCT of Delhi, has decided to declare November 20, 2020, as a public holiday on account of 'Chhat Pooja," said Delhi government in order.

In view of the COVID-19 situation in the national capital, Gupta said the "need of the hour is intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ventilators".

As many as 7,486 new positive cases were recorded in Delhi, including 6,901 recoveries and 131 deaths in the past 24 hours in the national capital, said the health department on Wednesday.The total number of COVID-19 cases in Delhi stood at 5,03,084 including 42,458 active cases, 4,52,683 recoveries and 7,943 deaths.

( With inputs from ANI )