GUWAHATI: The state government is going to take a decision on reopening of movie halls within 15 days. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed about the same in Guwahati on Friday.
Himanta, who has been pro-actively working to keep coronavirus at bay ever since the pandemic hit the state in March last year, said reopening of cinema halls would depend on the Covid-19 situation in the state and added that the government would keep a close watch on the Covid scenario for the next 15 days. If the number of Covid positive cases remains on a low side, a decision will be taken accordingly, he said.
Movie halls in Assam have been closed since April when the second wave of coronavirus hit the country. The state government had recently announced some relaxations in Covid restrictions, but there was no "good news" for cinema halls, much to the dissatisfaction of the All Assam Cinema Hall Employees Association. It appealed to the government to reopen cinema halls and said around 2000 employees are there in the state who work in 80 such halls across the state and they have been suffering immensely running their families. They are currently in a terrible condition because of closure of halls, it said.
Assam had registered its coronavirus positive case on March 31 last year. Till September 2, 2021, the state has recorded a total of 89, 468 positive cases, including 67, 641 recoveries. Altogether, 234 people have been killed by the virus in the state so far.
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