This time New Year celebrations witnessed compliance of COVID-19 guidelines. Good number of people were seen visiting temples to start New Year day. Ashok Chauhan , local resident, said that this year, “we with family decided to visit Birla Mandir and local temples . Year 2020 was very challenging due to corona scare and to wish prosperity and good health we though to seek blessings of god. Good number of visitors were also seen in Salkanpur temple. All were seen wearing mask though social distancing was not followed.”

 

Guidelines for the celebration of the New Year have been released by the administration in view of the COVID-19 transition. According to this guideline, events have been allowed in hotels, gardens etc. with half the number of people. Also no outside celebrity were allowed to be called. During the celebrations, complete adherence to the corona guideline has to be ensured. In this context, hotel, restaurant and garden operators say that the expenses in the event was the same and people with 50-50 restrictions were allowed. Music and dance was arranged at some place in the New Year celebration. Boat Club had selfie points and cultural programmes organised under Jash-e-Bhopal by MP Tourism. Hotel Palash Residency of MP Tourism Development Corporation has made special arrangements. The dance floor has been removed so that people can avoid getting in touch with each other. A small orchestral party was arranged present. Bakery items were also be available on New Year eve along with a variety of dishes at the buffet dinner. However, senior couple preferred to stay away from midnight celebrations and only young crowd was witnessed on New year eve.

 

 

To celebrate New Year, locals are preferring to go for shopping to winter fairs this year. Due to corona scare many families preferred to celebrate New Year day with family shopping activities. Umang exhibition witnessed good number of visitors on Friday. Handwork of entire India can be seen in the market. Handicraft artisans came from different states and set their shops. The organisers said that artistic useful objects kept in the market. Government schemes are being promoted here, cultural dances, folk songs, poet convention is also being organised. Madhya Pradesh State Tourism Development Corporation (MPSTDC) is running ‘Umang’ exhibition in Hotel Palash Residency Complex in collaboration with Culture Department and NABARD. The event, which runs till January 3, is mainly a food fest and craft market. The exhibition can be viewed from 11 am to 9 pm. A cultural program is also performed here in the evening every day. Artisans from Assam, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Bihar, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, West Bengal have showcased cotton and silk handloom products including saris, dress material, jewellery, home furnishing, designer clothes. Exhibition organisers said that the aim of exhibition is to promote weavers and provide a market to handloom industry. Through these exhibitions, they have been able to create a good market for weavers and handloom products in places where exhibitions are not feasible. The motive is to get pure silk and cotton products directly from weavers and place them before customers.