Mahanadi tourists throw Covid caution to the wind
Exasperated administration imposes prohibitory orders to dissuade crowd
Bhubaneswar: Throwing Covid-19 guidelines to the winds, thousands of people from Cuttack gathered on the Mundali and Naraj barrages to watch the gushing flood waters of the Mahanadi. The administration was not pleased, and invoked the law prohibiting assembly.
The bridges over both barrages were chock-a-block with traffic all day. An exasperated official said, “Despite repeated requests and appeals, people did not maintain social distancing on the barrages.”
The Hirakud Dam authorities have been letting out pent up water from the Mahanadi river system for the past four days causing the river to swell downstream.
The sight of the unleashed river led motorists to stop in midtraffic and have a look or take a selfie. The scenes on the barrages appeared no less than a fair.
A similar crowd of curious visitors was seen on the Ring Road in Sambalpur town, Kathajodi bridge and Kuakhai bridge on the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar road. At all these places, people were spotted busy taking selfies while parking their vehicles on the road.
Later in the day, the state administration imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 of Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) at the bridges over the barrages.