Telangana High Court pats Anand for curbs on New Year revelry amid Covid

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Thursday expressed satisfaction with the advisories and guidelines issued by the Hyderabad city police on New Year celebrations.

Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy observed that the advisories issued to all stakeholdes including partygoers and event organisers were good and hoped the guidelines would be implemented effectively.

The judge was dealing with petitions complaining about pubs and commercial establishments violating rules and creating a nuisance in the residential areas of Jubilee Hills locality.

The court on Wednesday had directed the government and police to formulate protocols for pubs. The guidelines were placed before the court on Thursday.

The court directed police to continue these guidelines till January 6.

Petitioner's counsel Pisapati Rajashekar complained that the guidelines were only applicable to New year celebrations whereas the court had directed the government to take permanent steps. He said the residents of Jubilee Hills locality were losing their peace of mind due to the commercial activities in residential zones.

Srikanth Reddy, counsel for the home department, said that the excise department must be made a respondent if the petitioners were objecting permission given to the pubs. The court suggested to the petitioners to do this, and said it would look into the issue during the next hearing on January 6.

Many okay with restrictions on NY parties

Around 70 per cent of city residents support the restrictions being placed on New Year parties and gatherings to minimise the spread of the Omicron variant of the Coronavirus, a survey conducted by LocalCircles revealed.

Of the 30,000 respondents spread across Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Chennai, nearly 39 per cent were women.

While most social media posts have opposed the idea of night curfew, with many stating the virus does not transmit only at night, many citizens on LocalCircles have been expressing concerns about the rising cases of Omicron and the need for restrictions to contain the spread.

The survey asked Hyderabadis if they support the move to put restrictions on New Year parties. Around 70 per cent of 2,114 respondents said 'yes'.