The founder of social development for communities’ foundation (SDCF), Anoop Nautiyal, has said that in view of the upcoming festival season the state and escalating condition of pandemic in Uttarakhand, the government should not delay the release of the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the season. He said that utmost vigil is needed during the festival season to control the spread of the disease.
Nautiyal said that Pitrapaksha is starting from September 1 which would be followed by Dussehra and Diwali. “People throng the markets during this season which would increase the chances of spreading the contagion further. PM during his Man Ki Baat had asked to be careful during the festival season. There is a talk about the union government releasing a SOP for the season,’’ he said. Nautiyal during the pandemic period it was observed that there was a delay in release of SOP after the guidelines were issued by the union government. He said that delay in SOP creates confusion among the traders and general public. Nautiyal suggested that after the release of SOP for the festival season, the state government too should issue its SOP so that there is no confusion and the traders make necessary preparation accordingly.