'No Holi celebrations in Gujarat'

Surat/Jaipur/Bhopal: The Gujarat government on Sunday said permission won't be granted for Holi celebrations due to the surge in COVID-19 cases in the state though the religious ritual of 'Holika Dahan' associated with the festival can take place with crowd restrictions.

Holi falls on March 29 and Holika Dahan on its eve on March 28.

The government will only allow 'Holika Dahan', a pyre lighting ritual symbolising the victory of good over evil on the eve of Holi, that too with a limited number of people in housing societies and villages, Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel said.

The Rajasthan government on Sunday announced to impose night curfew in eight districts and also made negative RT-PCR report mandatory for visitors travelling to the state from across the country.

The night curfew will be clamped from Monday between 11pm and 5am in Ajmer, Bhilwara, Jodhpur, Kota, Udaipur, Sagwara, Kushalgarh and Jaipur. However, all the emergency services are exempted from the curbs.

People in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur woke up to a quieter outdoor and deserted streets on Sunday as the coronavirus-triggered lockdown came into force in these three cities of Madhya Pradesh.

In view of the spurt in coronavirus cases, the state government had on March 19 announced lockdown in these three cities every Sunday till further orders.