Mumbai, Jan 12 (PTI) The Maharashtra government’s orders for another complete lockdown in view of the third wave will be a “fatal blow” to the recently-opened amusement parks, and such outdoor entertainment zones should also be allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity, an industry lobby said on Wednesday.
The Indian Association of Amusement Parks and Industries said that just like indoor venues like malls, cinemas and restaurants, the amusement parks, water parks and theme parks should be allowed to operate at 50 per cent capacity.
These facilities had opened only two months ago, after the pandemic-induced lockdowns came into effect in late-March 2020.
“This is going to be a fatal blow to the industry as huge investments and manpower planning had been undertaken to restart parks which were closed for over a year,” an official statement from the body’s Chairman Rajeev Jalnapurkar said.
The state has 37 large and small entertainment parks, which provide direct employment to 13,000 people and indirectly help employ over 52,000 people, the statement said.
The industry lobby said that unlike the public parks that have free access, the cover charge levied by the private parks helps reduce the number of people that will help them reduce COVID-19 worries. PTI AA HRS hrs
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Source: The Print
