While a section has welcomed the Tamil Nadu government’s decision to allow theatres to function at 100 per cent occupancy, the same has been flagged off as dangerous by a few sections, including doctors.
Now, the Central Government has said that the move is in violation and the Ministry of Home Affairs has sent an advisory to the government to repeal the same.
Government of Tamil Nadu order of permitting increase the seating capacity of Cinema/theaters/ multiplexes from existing 50% to 100% is dilution of MHA order. States and UT shall not dilute guidelines issued under DM act in any manner, said the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Tamil Nadu Government in its advisory and further added, In view of the above, Govt of Tamil Nadu is requested to immediately issue necessary order to bring their Guidelines in line with the MHA guidelines dated 28 December 2020 and inform compliance to this Ministry.
You can view the advisory in its entirety below:
Earlier, an earnest plea by a doctor to not allow theatres to function at 100 per cent occupancy had gone viral.
Dear Actor Vijay sir, Silambarasan sir and the respected Govt. of Tamil Nadu,
I am tired. We are all tired. Thousands of doctors like me are tired. Health care workers are tired. Police officials are tired. Sanitary workers are tired.
We have worked so hard at the ground level to make sure the damage done is kept to as low as possible amidst an unprecedented pandemic. I am not glorifying our work for I know there is nothing so great about it to the onlooker’s eyes. We don’t have cameras in front of us. We don’t do stunt sequences. We aren’t heroes. But we deserve some time to breath. We don’t want to fall prey to someone’s selfishness and greed.
The pandemic isn’t over and we have people dying till today to the disease. A hundred percent theatre occupancy is a suicide attempt. Rather homicide, for none of the policy makers or the so called heroes are going to put themselves under the pump, to watch the movie amidst the crowd. This is a blatant barter system, trading lives for money.
Can we please slowly try and concentrate on our lives and make sure we tide through this pandemic peacefully and not reignite the slowly burning out flame, that is still not completely put out?
I wanted to make this post scientific and explain why we are still in danger. But that’s when I asked myself, “what’s the point?”
Yours tiredly
A poor, tired resident doctor