Karwar: After a long work-from-home regime and restricted movement due to the Covid-19, revellers from Bengaluru are keen on Uttara Kannada and Goa as venues for their New Year celebrations besides just wanting to get away. However, restrictions the pandemic has warranted in Uttara Kannada has splashed cold water on their enthusiasm.
Kiran N, a techie who works in the capital city, told TNIE that he had made his holiday plans in early November and booked accommodation for a week-long stay with friends in a Dandeli resort. "We hope to usher in the New Year in a grand yet relaxed way," he said.
Vijay Kumar Hiremath, another Bengaluru resident, is coming to Gokarna along with his family. They will be here between December 27 and January 1.
Almost all homestays, resorts and hotels in Dandeli, Ganeshgudi, Gokarna and Honnavara are packed up to January 2. "We are booked till January 1," is the common message that one is greeted with while enquiring for a homestay or resort stay during this period this time of the year.
Some revellers are going all the way to Panaji. "Since there is no restriction for New Year celebrations here, people are coming in large numbers," a Kankon po ice official said. "This has also lead to high escalation of tariffs in resort and homestays," added a regular traveller from Karnataka to the region.
The celebrations have already begun. Beaches in Karwar, Devbagh, Honnavara and Ankola are teeming with merrymakers. The Rabindranath Tagore Beach in Karwar that wore a deserted look till recently, is now packed with water lovers. Motor-boating and other activities that had gone kaput due to restricted public life in the wake of the deadly virus are back entertaining tourists.
However, with the intention to check the renewed threat of Covid-19 in the form of a second wave, the district administration has now stated that places of public accommodation will not be allowed to go beyond their capacity. "Suppose a resort has the capacity for 100 people, they can go ahead and operate to full capacity, but if they stretch beyond this by organising a huge party or some extravagant event, they will be pulled up,' said U-K Deputy Commissioner K Harish Kumar. He added that all homestays and resorts would be under their scanner for all kinds of violations.
Meanwhile, Karwar Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) has said that it will step up its Covid testing facility. "We are testing more and more people. We have tested numbers ranging between 1,200 and 1,400 on a daily basis. This will be increased if required," said Gajanan Naik, Dean, KIMS.