Hyderabad: Footfalls at 'Numaish' may not rise soon

Hyderabad: Hyderabad's favourite trade fair is back after a gap of one year, but the spike in Covid cases and the threat of the new variant Omicron may dampen the spirits of visitors; ensuring social distancing may be a challenge. The number of visitors may come down as many are likely to skip to avoid crowds and thus run the risk of contracting infection.

The All-India Industrial Exhibition Society (AIIE), which organises the annual event at Nampally, is not taking any chances. It is taking steps, like checking vaccination status of stall-owners and daily sanitisation. Its teams will also patrol the venue to ensure conformity with Covid protocols.

"We are not issuing identity cards to stall-owners till they produce their two-dose vaccine certificate," said AIIE secretary Aditya Margam. The society has made arrangements to give a second dose to the stall- owners who require it.

The organisers have appealed to people to visit Numaish only after getting fully vaccinated. Vaccine doses will also be made available at the venue for the unvaccinated visitors.

Cultural shows, which used to be an important part of the annual fair, will not be held this time in view of the Covid situation. AIEE officials said to prevent the gathering of a large number of visitors they decided not to have cultural programmes.

The society claimed that it has taken all safety measures to prevent fire accidents. It has installed a junction box for every 10 stalls; also arranged a three-km pipeline with 81 fire hydrants that can spray water to a distance of 150 ft with a three lakh litre storage capacity.

Last year, the society initially postponed the exhibition to January 31. Though the Covid situation was under control and the number of cases in the city had dropped, the society took the decision as a measure of abundant caution.

As thousands of people throng the exhibition every day and the guidelines which were then in force did not permit gatherings of more than 200 people, the society deferred the event. It was hopeful that 'Numaish' would begin in March-April, but the second wave forced them to drop the plans.

A unique blend of economy and culture, the event is organised on the sprawling grounds and revenues from the fair are spent on a group of educational and charitable institutions run by the Society.