Odisha Governor unfurls tricolour as state celebrates Republic Day 2022 amid COVID restrictions

Biswajeet Swain Published On : Jan 26, 2022 at 8:44 AM Updated On : Jan 26, 2022 at 12:26 PM

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Governor Ganeshi Lal unfurled the national flag at the state-level Republic Day celebrations at Mahatma Gandhi Marg here today and took salute during the parade. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik attended the event as guest of honour.

In view of the COVID-19 situation, only 10 contingents took part in the state-level Republic Day parade. For the very first time, the BSF became a part of the parade.

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The parade was commanded by IPS officer Rohit Verma.

Those who participated in the parade underwent RT-PCR test. Only those testing negative for COVID-19 were allowed for the parade.

As many as 25 platoons of police force and 70 officers were deployed to maintain the law and order situation.

Two units of Special Tactical Unit were also deployed to tackle any emergency situation.

Issuing COVID-related guidelines for the celebration of Republic Day in the state, the government has advised citizens to unfurl national flag on the premises of their houses with congregation of not more than five persons amid adherence to COVID-19 protocols.

For public/ private institutions, clubs and similar places, the government has advised to celebrate the Republic Day with not more than 10 persons.

“The Government has been pleased to allow the citizens to unfurl National Flag at their home premises in the Republic Day on 26.01.2022 (Wednesday) without much crowd and preferably not more than 5 (five) persons shall congregate and all COVID-19 safety protocols, such as social distancing, wearing masks, proper sanitisation, etc. shall be duly followed,” the government said in an official notification.

“However, in other public/ private institutions, clubs and similar places such celebration shall be allowed with not more than 10 (Ten) persons attending in strict compliance to COVID-19 appropriate behaviour,” the notification said.

“All Covid appropriate behaviour such as social/ physical distancing, use of face masks and hand hygiene shall be followed by one and all during the celebration,” it added.