Tamil Nadu lifts weekend curbs on places of worship

In Tamil Nadu,all places of worship to open on all days of the week.Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday also announced that playschools, kindergarten schools, and anganwadis in the state would be allowed to open from November 1. The state government has now permitted places of worship to be open on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Shops are allowed to be open till 11 pm. Public will be allowed to visit beaches on Sundays. Permission has been accorded for 100 people to attend wedding functions from November 1.Stalin said that the ban on political, social, cultural, and festivals will continue to check the spread of COVID-19. He urged people to exercise caution and also get themselves vaccinated.

The decision comes after the Madras High Court on Tuesday granted liberty to the state government to decide on keeping the temples open on Friday on which Vijayadasami falls. The Tamil Nadu government had told the high court that the restrictions were imposed following a communication from the Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in September in view of the rise in new cases of Covid-19. On August 6, the state had imposed weekend restrictions on places of worship. Stalin's announcement came a week after the Opposition, led by BJP, carried out state-wide protests against the weekend curbs. BJP's state chief K Annamalai had called the restrictions as a sign of the ruling party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), imposing their "atheist ideology".