The Uttarakhand High Court on Friday slammed the state government for not ensuring COVID protocols during Kumbh Mela and Char Dham Yatra amid a devastating wave of COVID-19 pandemic.

The HC also observed that the centre wasn’t paying any heed to the medical needs of people living in remote areas of Uttarakhand.

The bench of Chief Justice R S Chauhan and Justice Alok Verma reprimanded the Uttarakhand government for giving permission first to Kumbh Mela, and then to Char Dham, and asked to "go and see what is happening".

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The court also said, “Why do we keep causing embarrassment to ourselves.” They also took note of crowd control measures for people traveling for char Dham.

The bench also said, “You may fool the court, but you cannot fool the people. The reality exists out there. You are playing with the lives of millions of people in the country.”

Uttarakhand | Nainital High Court said that the ever-decreasing number of COVID19 tests shows that the State government is deceiving itself and the people as well

The court observed that social media is telling a different story and further observed that nobody was following the crowd control measures in the state. It also advised Tourism Secretary Dilip Jawalkar to take the next chopper to Chardham and find what the reality is after he informed the court about the number of people earmarked to perform duties at each temple.

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The court also said, “Why is it that Uttarakhand is being neglected? Why is it receiving a step-child treatment from the Centre? Even high ranking officials from Uttarakhand posted in the PMO are not responding to the requests and are instead sitting upon the interests of the state."

“It is as absurd as asking someone who grows wheat not to use his own produce and get it from someone else,” the court added.

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