THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even after the district administration ordered stringent instructions to prevent foreign tourists to visit the areas where the Attukal Pongala is being held, five foreign tourists who stayed at a private Ayurveda beach resort in Thiruvananthapuram violated the government order and visited the pongala offering areas with the help of resort authorities.
Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran said that strict action will be taken against the resort authorities for defying the government order.
"The district administration has already given advisory to the hotels and reports that the foreign tourists saying there should refrain from visiting the pongala offering places. But we learnt that some resorts or hotels violated this. Hence we will initiate legal action these hotels or resorts," he said.
The state has been keeping a tab on the foreign tourists who arrive in the state in view of the emerging global scenario regarding COVID-19. At present, the tourists who arrive in the state have to submit a self-declaration and undergo thermal scanning at the airports. If there is anything amiss in the test, they will be quarantined.
But the tourists who do not show any symptoms are free to roam around the state now. The Union government has suspended regular visas and e-visas granted to all foreign nationals who have travelled to China, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Japan on or after February 1.