Around 50 people detained from a festive gathering in Khodiyarnagar

Vadodara police detained around 50 people from a gathering at a religious festival in the Khodiyarnagar area of the city. Police dispersed the crowd and detained people for violation of COVID 19 guidelines.

A Mataji festival was organized at home by a family in Khodiyarnagar amidst the corona pandemic. As per traditions, people of Chanasama village of Mehsana come to take the Goddess. Thousands of people from various cities including Vadodara, Ahmedabad, and Surat gathered here.

A traffic jam was reported on the road in Khodiyar Nagar in the early hours of the morning due to a large gathering of around 1,500 people. As a result, the police reached the spot and dispersed the crowd. Some devotees also had a clash with the police. Later the team detained about 50 people, including women, in connection with the incident. Being a religious festival made it difficult even for the police to persuade the people. Some people obsessed with superstition got into a confrontation with the police and started shouting slogans against them. However, the police dispersed the crowd with restraint.

This incident violated the COVID 19 guidelines, as not a single person was wearing a mask in such a big gathering. People were greeting Mataji with abir gulal and Dhol Nagaras. Traffic on the main road was also disrupted due to the big gathering and people who left for work early in the morning were stuck.

Police arrived after getting the message of a big crowd of people and detained around 50 along with the father of Suresh who organized the function from the spot.

Coronavirus is becoming deadly in Vadodara city and the number of patients is also steadily increasing. The alarming rate of deaths is also a cause of concern for the administration. In such a time the Khodiyarnagar incident can lead to mass transmissions and hence became a topic of hot discussion.