Laddu Maar Holi: Very few people had masks on and there was no social distancing
New Delhi:
Thousands of people gathered and huddled together, mostly without face masks, in Uttar Pradesh’s Shri Radha Rani temple celebrating ‘Laddu maar Holi’ on Monday violating several coronavirus norms.
In a video, shared by news agency ANI, a sea of devotees thronged the temple in Barsana catching laddus thrown by possibly the temple’s workers from what seemed to an elevated part in the shrine.
The minute-and-a-half long video comes as India battles a recent Covid spike, prompting authorities to implement stricter measures across many states.
Men, women and even children jump and try to catch the laddus that are being thrown in the video. They even threw laddus at each other. The temple’s premises were overflowing with people; very few had masks on and there was no social distancing.
#WATCH ‘Laddu Mar Holi’ celebrated at Barsana’s Shri Radha Rani Temple, earlier today pic.twitter.com/L7W3groaBH
— ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) March 22, 2021
‘Laddu maar Holi’ is celebrated a day before the famous ‘Lathmar Holi’ in various cities of the state like Mathura and Barsana.
Several precautions are taken during festivals, like avoiding large gatherings, to curb the spread of the deadly virus that has affected 1.16 crore people in India alone.
People on Twitter were not happy with the crowd violating Covid norms at the temple.
“Is this a joke? COVID still there!” commented one Twitter user.
“How Covid doesn’t spread in UP after such celebrations? What local administration is doing?” tweeted another.
How Covid doesn’t spread in UP after such celebrations? What local administration is doing?
— Niytiin BBindal 24 (@nitinbindal) March 23, 2021
Celebrating festivals has been on a small scale since last year as the pandemic raged. Innovative ways were brought in to celebrate as well. Last Diwali, the Uttar Pradesh government had build a website for a virtual celebration where people could light a virtual lamp on the festival.
Uttar Pradesh has lodged over 6.07 lakh coronavirus cases so far.