CPI wants youth festival at Puducherry to be postponed

Puducherry, Jan 6 (IANS) The Communist Party of India (CPI) has urged that the National Youth Festival scheduled to be held in Puducherry on January 12 be postponed in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases.Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, CPI state secretary A.M. Saleem said that conducting the festival in the middle of a pandemic would put the lives of people at risk.He said the central government had called upon the state and UT governments to increase the health infrastructure amid the spread of the Omicron variant, and it was not wise to hold a festival of this magnitude.He added that even the courts have shifted to online hearings and the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry has asked the people to be on guard due to the rising cases. A festival in which 10,000 people are expected to participate would derail the health system of the UT.He called upon the Prime Minister not to attend the programme and added that the CPI would hold a protest in the Union Territory on January 10 for the postponement of the festival.He said that the party would organize a signature campaign against the festival.The Union Sports and Youth Ministry is organising a National Youth Festival on January 12 to mark the birth celebrations of Swami Vivekananda at Puducherry and the Prime Minister is to inaugurate the festival.
--IANS aal/bg

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