Team Herald
PANJIM: Against the Central government’s advisory to all States to avoid or postpone mass gatherings in the wake of CoVID-19, Goa government is going ahead with its annual Shigmo parade that commences on Tuesday.
The government has also not announced cancellation of gatherings for Holi as a number of events are planned across different parts of Goa on Tuesday, March 10.
Tourism Manohar Ajgaonkar asserted that the Department of Tourism is going ahead with the Shigmo festival in absence of specific instructions from the State government. “The Shigmo parade will be held. It is neither cancelled nor postponed because there’s no advisory from the government or the Health Department. If there is any such advisory, we will bring the event to a halt,” he told Herald.
The Shigmo festival will begin from Ponda and end on March 24, 2020 after being held in some of the major cities.
The CoVID-19 cases have touched 43 so far with the latest being a 3-year-old, who along with her family had returned from the CoVID-19 infected nation – Italy.
Despite rising cases, the government is tight lipped on the hosting of major events in the State.
Last week, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had called for a press conference to spread the Centre’s message for a ban on “mass gatherings” in the State.
On being asked about Shigmo, that witnesses huge gathering of people including tourists, Rane had said, “I don’t want to say anything. I have said what was discussed in the video-conference meeting with the Union Health Minister Harsh Wardhan. Shigmo is a traditional festival which involves lots of sentiments but we have to also accept that these are trying time and Goans are very intelligent themselves to understand.”
He had also suggested being more cautious as the State is a prominent tourist destination.
The tourism minister has conceded decline in tourists’ inflow citing cancellation of hotel bookings, deserted beaches, etc. However, the traditional Shigmo parade, he reiterated, will go as per the schedule.
