The UNESCO world heritage site, Hampi has been seeing an increased footfall of tourists and the Covid rules are notably being violated. Following the complaints that locals haven’t been following Covid protocols, the Hampi World Heritage Area Management Authority is now planning to depute volunteers to ensure that the visitors follow the norms.
After lifting the restrictions on visiting the World heritage site Hampi, tourists have increased rapidly creating situations of panic and anxiety when the Covid 3rd wave is expected to hit soon.
The locals have been complaining that even though relevant signboards have been put up to follow Covid appropriate behaviour, the tourists are being careless and haven’t been enforcing the Covid norms.
The decision of the district administration to keep the World Heritage site, Hampi open for the entire week has led to panic among locals. During weekends, there are instances of the visitors’ number touching 3000 and more and many of them haven’t been following Covid protocols.
The deployment of volunteers with security forces in Hampi will further facilitate surveillance of tourists, said an official.
The volunteers are expected to take relevant actions against those not following Covid-19 protocols. The volunteers will be deployed with security guards at Vijaya Vithala Temple, Virupaksha Temple, Ugra Narasimha and other monuments.
“We are really worried after the district administration ordered the opening of Hampi throughout the week. During the weekends, Hampi sees more than 3,000 visitors. Many of them do not follow basic Covid norms,” said Prabhu Bhat of Hampi, echoing the concern of other residents.
