Event organisers are in high spirits after the Unlock 4.0 guidelines on September 1 permitted this industry to reopen for business from September 21 with a ceiling of 100 persons.
This development occurred after a meeting between the Government Interaction Committee of the apex industry body Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) with the Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai.
EEMA had submitted a list of SOPs (standard operating procedures) events to instil confidence in the authorities that attempts would be made to keep everyone safe while holding events.
The SOPs were prepared for each industry vertical after taking into account the government guidelines by an EEMA task force, and doing this gave the government enough confidence about letting the industry go back to work. “We had organised an open webinar.
Over 1,000+ industry partners and stakeholders attended it and agreed to follow the EEMA guidelines,” says EEMA General Secretary Siddhartha Chaturvedi. The SOPs include enhanced protocols related to sanitisation, cleaning, hygiene, attendee management, venue requirements among others.
“The USP of this document is its exhaustive detailing and transparency, which covers the entire life cycle of an event right from its inception to execution and post, we have covered it all under WHO norms.
The detailing goes from how the mehendi wala needs to operate at a wedding, managing a queue at a temple festival to a road show vehicle going to a gram panchayat, sanitising the mic and green rooms at corporate events, dining in a langar to dining in a cluster seating to a safe bar movement in a music festival... we have tried to cover it all,” says Chaturvedi, adding, “Since we already carry out comprehensive risk assessment, safety checks and logistical planning for every event, including a Covid-19 mitigation plan wasn’t difficult.” He informs that the events industry with over 10 million work force, was seeing a steady growth till the lockdown brought it to a standstill.
Now the mood is upbeat, barring one damper – the cap of 100 persons. “I feel the cap on 100 attendees should be removed. Depending on the size of the venue, more attendees should be allowed,” says Vikaas Gutgutia, Founder & Managing Director, Ferns N Petals. Chaturvedi agrees that 100 is a restrictive number. “The number of people should depend on the size of the venue. Only then, we can hope to revive the industry. We are in talks with the government on this issue,” he says, adding, “Covid is not going away anytime soon, so we must responsibly.
Entertainment adds to the happiness index of the country, and I think things will move up post-Diwali when people will start going out.” Staying positive about the cap is Ankur Kalra, Managing Director, Vibgyor Brand Services Pvt Ltd, who says, “The onus of keeping everyone safe lies on all the stakeholders involved – the event organisers, clients, supply chain members and guests. I am sure if no case emerges from the events, the cap will be moved to 200, then conduct ourselves responsi- 300 and so on.”
Detailed SOPs
The SOPs range from how the mehendi wala needs to operate at a wedding, managing a queue at a temple festival to sanitising the mic and green rooms, dining in a langar or cluster seating.