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Odisha: Puri Jagannath temple reopens for all devotees

About 17,000 devotees visited the temple on Sunday after producing COVID-19 negative reports done within 96 hours and adhering to the COVID-19 guidelines. Lord Jagannath Temple in Puri reopened for all devotees on Sunday after remaining closed for nine months due to the pandemic even as Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal preferred to have darshan of the deities from outside for not having the mandatory COVID-19 negative report for entry into the shrine. The governor, along with his family members and some staff, had to return to the state capital after having darshan of “Patitapaban” (the symbolic image of lord Jagannath seen from outside the temple) as they did not have the COVID-19 negative report, a senior official accompanying Lal told. Though there was no restriction on the entry of the governor, who was welcomed by the Shree Jagannath Temple Administration (SJTA) and Puri district administration, Lal volunteered not to go inside on his own after he came to know that all the devotees have to submit their COVID-19 negative report before entering the temple, a senior official said. The governor said: “I came here to pay obeisance to the Lord. We prayed for the wellbeing of all the people of Odisha seeking the almighty’s blessings for 2021.” The 12th century shrine started its reopening process in a phased manner from December 23. The servitors and their family members were allowed to enter the temple from December 23 till December 25, followed by local residents of Puri in the second phase from December 26 to December 31 evening. The temple remained closed on January 1 and 2 and reopened for all devotees from across the country from Sunday. About 17,000 devotees visited the temple on Sunday after producing COVID-19 negative reports done within 96 hours and adhering to the COVID-19 guidelines. The SJTA and the Puri district administration has implemented a number of guidelines for the devotees asking them to mandatorily wear face mask, sanitise hands, maintain physical distance at all times, not to touch statues or idols inside the temple. This apart, it also prohibited devotees from carrying any offerings like flowers/earthern lamp inside the temple. There will be big containers placed at the entrance, where such items can be dropped if being carried by the devotees, it said. The devotees also cannot take mahaprasad (bhog) inside Ananda Bazar and temple premises while chewing of tobacco/paan and spitting inside temple premises is strictly prohibited. The devotees enter the temple through a queue system and are required to produce their photo ID card like Aadhaar/Voter ID. They have to leave their belongings at the designated place outside the temple. The devotees will enter into the shine through Lions Gate and exit through the north gate. Meanwhile, the administration in Bhubaneswar allowed the residents of the Capital city to enter Shree Lingaraj Shrine by adhering to the COVID-19 protocol. Many temples in the state capital and in other parts of the state also reopened for devotees.

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Saudi Arabia Resumes International Flights After Two-Week Suspension Due to Mutant Covid-19 Strain

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday the lifting of the ban on all international flights as well as land and sea entry, the Saudi Press Agency reported. The two-week ban was part of the precautionary measures against the spread of a mutant variant of coronavirus detected in a number of countries, Xinhua news agency reported. The lifting decision became effective from 11 a.m. on Sunday, according to the Interior Ministry. Still, non-Saudi citizens should spend at least 14 days outside the countries identified as places where the new Covid-19 strain has broken out before entry and carry at least one test, the Minisry said. Saudi citizens from those countries should be quarantined for 14 days upon arrival and carry two Covid-19 tests, it added. Saudi Arabia discovered its first Covid-19 case in February 2020. After nearly a year of efforts to curb the spread of the virus, the number of daily cases in the Kingdom is now reduced to fewer than 200. Saudi Arabia's decision came after several European nations, including Italy, Belgium, France and the Netherlands, have banned flights to and fro from the UK after report of the mutant strain, which has quickly spread cross London and the southeast of England. On December 19, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson had announced that the newly identified strain of the virus may be up to 70 per cent more transmissible.

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Sea plane services from Delhi to Ayodhya very likely

If everything goes as planned, travelling from the Yamuna riverfront to Ayodhya or from Mumbai to Shirdi for a pilgrimage via seaplane would soon become possible. As per the latest news reports, the Sagarmala Development Company (SDCL) under the Shipping and Waterways Ministry recently issued an Expression of Interest (EoI) for seaplane services on the said seaplane routes, such as Delhi to Ayodhya, Tehri, Uttarakhand, and Chandigarh; Surat to Dwarka, Mandvi and Kandla; Mumbai to Shirdi, Lonavala and Ganpatipule; and within the archipelagos of Andaman & Nicobar and Lakshadweep. Reportedly, the routes under the Sagarmala Seaplane Service (SSPS) will likely be operated under the government's subsidised Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik (UDAN) scheme. Reports has it that those interested players from this sector have already carried out assessment of related to tourist interest, whereas the EoI is aimed at deciphering the interest of various companies. A source in the know-how stated that they explored the possibility of running such a service between Varanasi and Ayodhya. He added that although there is currently no infrastructure available for running such a service, it can be set up within a set timeline. He stated that they are now only exploring the possibilities.

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‘Delhi-Shillong biweekly flights from this month’

FlyBig, the country’s newest airline which launched its maiden Delhi-Shillong air service recently, will now operate twice-a-week flights from this month. The airline’s decision, which was announced by its chief executive officer, Srinivas Rao on Sunday, is bound to further improve connectivity, promote tourism and bring ease of travel. The airline, which had got its permit from regulator, DGCA (directorate general of civil aviation) on December 14, partly began operations on December 21, when it operated a chartered flight with the aircraft taken on wet lease from SpiceJet. The airline flew from Delhi to Shillong, to coincide with the Meghalaya government’s move to reopen the state for tourism on the same day, as the domestic travel scene gradually improved along with the pandemic situation. “From this month itself the company will operate two-weekly flights on the route. Eventually, the company plans to deploy its own aircraft on the route,” the executive said. The airline began its operations from its Indore base on Sunday from where the inaugural flight to Ahmedabad took off. In the initial couple of weeks, the airline founded by Sanjay Mandavia — a pilot-turned-aviation entrepreneur — will operate thrice a week. By the end of March this year, the airline will have daily flights connecting all the three tier-2 cities. The launch of the new airline comes at a time when domestic air traffic continues to improve, having got a push during the festive season and year-end travel. While the government had hiked the cap, enabling airlines to now use 80 percent of their capacity, there is optimism that this would be eased further.

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Maldives top source tourist market for 2020 was India

The Ministry of Tourism has revealed that the highest market for the country’s tourism remained India, throughout 2020. Statistics publicized by the ministry reveal that a total of 62,905 tourists had arrived from India during 2020, which contributes 11.3 percent of the total arrival rate for the year. The second highest arrivals across 2020 were recorded from Russia, at 11.1 percent making up a total of 61,388 visitors. The top ten source markets make up 65.9 percent of the country’s total number of tourist arrivals for the year, and third in the list comes the United Kingdom. According to the ministry, 52,716 tourists had visited from United Kingdom last year, making up 9.5 percent of the total arrivals. 8.4 percent of the arrival tally is Italy with 46,690 visitors whereas 36,435 arrivals were recorded from Germany which contributed 6.6 percent. Further, 34,245 arrivals from China make up 6.2 percent of the total arrival rate. Five percent makes up 28,031 arrivals from France as well. The United States remains one of the top source markets for Maldives tourism, having contributed 3.6 percent of the arrivals with 19,759 visitors. Ukraine and Switzerland is also among the top ten source markets, with 10,343 arrivals having been recorded from Ukraine and 12,516 from the latter. Maldives recorded a total of 555,399 tourist arrivals during the last year. The island nation was one of the harder-hit countries as one dependent on the tourism industry as its main source of income, due to the global Covid-19 pandemic. As such, the government stopped issuing on-arrival visas on March 27, which proved to be a major downfall for the country’s economy. Nearly four months later, borders were reopened on July 15 and albeit snail-paced at the beginning, tourist arrivals began surging within a few months. The country saw a record-breaking 1.7 million tourist arrivals during 2019 and an optimistic government set a vision to break the record with two million arrivals, which was foiled by the pandemic. Maldives was able to exceed its new target of 545,000, by the end of December 2020.

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After months, Athirappilly-Vazhachal ecotourism sites being opened

After losing much of the peak tourism season days and revenue to the COVID-19 pandemic, ecotourism activities in the Athirappilly-Vazhachal sector are set to begin in a phased manner. The tourism facilities at Vazhachal were thrown open on New Year’s day while the activities at Athirappilly were launched immediately after the local body polls. The entry of tourists to the destinations will be permitted on a limited scale this time. On a given day, only 2,000 visitors will be permitted at the site. Of this, 1,000 tickets will be allotted online and the remaining half can be purchased at the ticket counters at the site. Each visitor will be allowed to stay at the site for one-and-a-half hours. Tickets may be booked at www.athirappillyvazhachal.com and the payment made at the counters. The road that runs through the forest area between Vazhachal and Malakkapara has also been opened for vehicles. However, travellers may not be able to freely access Tamil Nadu areas through the route. For reaching the Tamil Nadu side, one needs to obtain travel permission by registering on the State e-portal, according to forest officials. As the threat of the pandemic continues, tourism activities are being permitted as per the health protocol. Members of the Vana Samrakshana Samithis and visitors would have to follow the protocol at the sites, said S.V. Vinod, Divisional Forest Officer, Vazhachal. The areas adjoining the tribal hamlets at Vazhachal, Pokalappara and Sholayar were closed down earlier after they were declared containment zones as a few tribespeople had tested positive for the virus. The infected persons were quarantined and road access regulated to contain the spread of the disease. Usually, the days preceding Christmas would see thousands of tourists thronging the destination. The restriction on the number of visitors meant the plummeting of revenue from ticket sales as one visitor was charged only ₹40 as entry fee, he said. Earlier, visitors used to arrive in buses and other vehicles in large numbers. Each bus would bring at least 50 tourists. However, the restriction on the number of tourists travelling in such vehicles has reduced the number of visitors reaching the area, said Mr. Vinod. With ecotourism operations being scaled down, the revenue has plummeted and a loss of ₹3 crore was recorded. The department had to pull out members of the Vana Samrakshana Samithis aged above 65 years from service, considering the health risks they faced, said the official.

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