Days after the Calcutta High Court allowed the West Bengal government to organise the Gangasagar Mela, on Tuesday it made negative RTPCR reports and double vaccination mandatory for pilgrims.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prakash Srivastava and Justice Kesang Doma Bhutia also directed the government to notify the entire area which means that the special statutory rules of the state have to be complied with.
The court formed a two-member committee, including retired Justice Samapti Chatterjee and member secretary of the West Bengal Legal Services Authority, to ensure that all Covid protocols were being maintained at the mela, which was inaugurated on Monday.
The division bench also dropped BJP leader Shuvendu Adhikari from the previous monitoring committee of Gangasagar Mela a day after the government and doctors’ forums urged the court not to include a political member in the committee.
Many have raised questions about how Covid rules can be followed at such a crowded gathering. More than five million pilgrims attended the mela in 2020.
However, the experts are happy that the state government has been directed to follow the Covid guidelines.
