COVID-19: Prohibitory orders under Section 144 enforced in Pune tourist-picnic spots

Representational Image (Credits: PTI)

New Delhi: The Pune administration, in order to curb overcrowding and violation of social-distancing protocols in tourists spots, has imposed prohibitory orders in several tourist spots in the district on Friday (July 16, 2021).

"To avoid any untoward incident and to tame the spread of the virus, it is imperative to impose prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC and Disaster Management Act in these seven tehsils. The assembly of more than five people has been restricted and people are not allowed to venture into the water bodies and go under the waterfalls," the order said.

The tourist-picnic spots which come under this prohibitory orders include Bhushi dam, various points in Lonavala and Khandala, Sinhgad Fort, Panshet, Varasgaon dam among others, the officials said. 

The order was issued by Collector Rajesh Deshmukh and it stated that people come in large numbers to picnic and tourists spots located in Maval, Mulshi, Haveli, Ambegaon, Junnar, Bhor, and Velha tehsils, leading to mask and social distancing norm violations. 

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Friday reported 7,761 new COVID-19 cases and 167 deaths which took the state's infection tally to 61,97,018 and the death toll to 1,26,727, the health department said. As many as 13,452 patients were discharged from hospitals, taking the total of recovered persons to 59,65,644. The state has a recovery rate of 96.27 percent.