Vadodara police detained people arrived at a function at Khodiyarnagar

 Nearly 1500 people arrived at the festival organised by a family at Khodiyarnagar

Vadodara police detained around 50 people from a gathering at a religious festival in Khodiyarnagar area of the city. Police dispersed the crowd and detained people for violation of Covid 19 guidelines.

As per available details a Mataji festival was organized at home by a family in Khodiyar Nagar amidst ongoing Corona Pandemic. According to the tradition of the society, the people of Chanasama village of Mehsana came to take the goddess. On this occasion thousands of people from various cities including Vadodara, Ahmedabad, Surat gathered there.

A traffic jam was reported on the road in Khodiyar Nagar in the early hours of the morning due to the large gathering of people.  As a result police reached the spot and  dispersed the crowd. Some devotees also clashed with the police. Later the team detained about 50 people, including women, in connection with the incident.

This morning’s incident in Khodiyarnagar had put the Covid 19 guidelines at stake as not a single person was wearing a mask in such a big gathering. Mataji festival was celebrated at home by a family in Khodiyar Nagar and as per the tradition, the people of Chanasama village arrived in vehicles to take the goddess.

Apart from this, the people of the society living in Vadodara as well as in various cities of Gujarat including Ahmedabad and Surat came to the occasion. 

Nearly 1500 people had gathered in Khodiyarnagar early in the morning and were greeting Mataji with Abir Gulal and the rhythm of Dhol Nagaras. Traffic on the main road was also disrupted due to the big gathering and people who left for work early in the morning were stuck.

Coronavirus is becoming deadly in Vadodara city and number of patients are steadily increasing. The alarming rate of deaths are also a cause of concern for the administration. In such time the Khodiyarnagar incident is like transmission hot bed and became a topic of discussion.

Being a religious festival this made it difficult even for the police to persuade the people.  Some people obsessed with superstition got into a confrontation with the police and started shouting slogans against them.  However, the police dispersed the crowd with restraint.

ACP Lakhdhirsinh Zala said, early morning in Khodiyarnagar, a man named Sureshbhai of a society installed Mataji in his house and people of Chanasama village of Mehsana came to take the goddess.

About 1500 people from Vadodara and other cities also came to participate in the festival. Police arrived after get the message of big crowd of people and detained around 50 along with father of Suresh who organised the function from the spot.