India / No govt-organised Navratri festival this year: Guj CM amid COVID-19

Gujarat government has said it will not organise Navratri festival this year amid the coronavirus pandemic. "The nine-day traditional state-level Navratri festival, organised by the state government every year will not be celebrated," a release quoted CM Vijay Rupani as saying. However, no clarification has been provided on whether Navratri celebrations organised by individuals will be permitted.

Vikrant Shekhawat : Sep 27, 2020, 02:13 PM

Ahmedabad: The Navratri festival organised by the Gujarat government will not be celebrated this year in view of the coronavirus pandemic, chief minister Vijay Rupani has said.

“The nine-day traditional state-level Navratri festival, organised by the state government every year will not be celebrated in the larger public interest due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic situation this year,” an official communique quoted CM Rupani as saying.

However, the state government has not yet clarified its stand on whether Navratri celebrations will be allowed to be organised by individuals. The festival was supposed to be held between October 17 and October 25 this year.

The government’s decision comes at a time when the state has reported over 1.3 lakh confirmed coronavirus cases and more than 3,400 deaths.

A total of 1,419 patients were discharged yesterday, taking the total number of recoveries to 1,11,909. With this, the case recovery rate in the state now stands at 84.90 per cent. The state now has 16,490 active cases.