SHIMLA: Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today said the administration evacuated the tourists from The Ridge on New Year Eve as they had got inputs that there was some possibility of conspiracy to trigger bomb blasts on New Year eve in the city. The special bomb disposal squad was summoned from Chandimandir and team was still investigating the area, he added.
Chief Minister told media persons that they had got this inputs from reliable sources and they evacuated The Ridge to avoid any mishap in the city. So far no evidence has been found by the investigating team and search is still on, he said.
In a sudden sweeping knee-jerk move, the district administration had evacuated the massive crowds of New Year revellers from the chock-a-block The Ridge, The Mall in the capital city in the late evening hours.
As soon as the crowds started swelling on The Ridge in the late evening hours, local residents also started uploading scenes of crowds flagging their concerns over the spread of Omicron in the city that caught the district administration napping.
After year of lockdowns and restrictions, thousands of New Year Revellers, mainly from neighbouring Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi have zipped in almost painting the town red in the evening hours when they throng the city hub of The Mall and Ridge in large number, with the restaurants, cafes, dhabhas and hotels doing brisk business.
The tourists had termed sudden action on them as uncalled for. The district administration and the state government did not issue any restrictions on entry of such a large number of tourists in the city and they just allowed us in, only to be driven away by police, rued the tourists.
Hundreds of police personnel suddenly had appeared on The Ridge evacuating New Year revellers from there through the public address system asking them to leave for their hotels, houses and destinations. There were scenes of two rival groups of girls fighting with each other over the entry through the gate in the city, video of which went viral on social media. Finally they dispersed from the scene shouting and touting much to the amusement of passersby.
In the evening around 6 PM the crowds on The Mall was not that big. But the district administration was caught napping when they found the crowds swelling towards the evening that sent jitters down its spine in the face of the resurgent omicron variant and intelligence inputs of bomb blasts. Even the tourists were taken aback when the police moved in large number with bomb disposal squads were seen moving in The Ridge area.
However DC Shimla Aditya Negi had told agencies that the tourists were evacuated as The Ridge and The Mall had become overcrowded in view of the Omicron variant. The bomb squads and fire tenders were put in place in precautionary measures, he had added without sharing the inputs of some bomb blast as that might have caused stampede.
The Ridge and The Mall wore almost a deserted look by 9 PM. The police and their red lighted vehicles were seen patrolling The Ridge and The Mall with crowds vanishing into thein air of Shimla. The DC Shimla and SP Shimla monitored the evacuation of operation.
Former Shimla Mayor Sanjay Chauhan said it was shocking move as they first allowed large number of tourists without any guidelines and restrictions at a time when Omicron cases are rising. This shows panic reaction on the part of the state government and administration that amount to harassment of tourists and exposing city people to danger of virus. The government should explain its action, he demanded.