Jammu, October 9: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Friday increased the limit of pilgrims visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine. Now 7,000 pilgrims can visit Mata Vaishno Devi shrine daily instead of 5,000. Apart from increasing the limit of pilgrims visiting the holy shrine, the administration of the union territory has also allowed cinema halls, bars, coaching centres to open as part of the Central government’s Unlock 5.0. Navratri 2020 Celebrations: No Garba in Gujarat This Year Due to COVID-19 Pandemic.

The limit was increased days ahead of Navaratri’s. The nine-day festival of Navaratri is starting from October 17. The CEO of the Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board will take the decision on how many of the total 7,000 pilgrims will be from outside the union territory. Notably, The inter-province and inter-state/UT pass will not be needed anymore. Religious places were re-opned in the union territory from August 16, almost after five months of the outbreak of COVID-19.

Simrandeep Singh, Secretary to J&K Govt, said, “Cinema halls, bars, coaching centres are allowed to open in the UT. Some of them are reopening from tomorrow and some from October 15. The limit of pilgrims, visiting Mata Vaishno Devi shrine has been increased from 5000 to 7000 per day.”

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The Centre on September 30, issued new guidelines for opening up of more activities in areas outside containment zones. Under the Unlock 5 guidelines, cinema halls, theatres and multiplexes are allowed to reopen with 50 percent seating capacity from October 15.

Regarding the opening of schools and coaching institutes, the MHA had said the state governments could take a decision and may open schools from October 15 in a graded manner. Students may attend schools only with the written consent of parents. No school will be allowed to enforce compulsory attendance.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Oct 09, 2020 05:01 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).