Demanding the State government to lift the ban on entry of tourists to Kodaikanal, trade bodies in the hill station on Tuesday announced that they would go on an indefinite protest from April 22.
The State government had imposed the ban on entry of tourists to Kodaikanal as part of measures to contain the spread of COVID-19. However, the trade bodies said that the people of Kodaikanal were dependent on tourism for their livelihood.
The trade bodies said they had temporarily called off the protests after they were assured that their demand would be addressed. However, with no response from the authorities, they said that they had decided to go ahead with the protest.
“We temporarily called off the protest on Monday after the authorities said there will be a positive response in 24 hours. However, no one has reached out to us. We are giving the authorities one more day to speak to us”, a trade body representative said.
“Since the livelihood of people of the hill station is dependent on tourism, we will ensure that if tourism activities were allowed, the mandatory COVID-19 protocols are followed by all the stakeholders,” he said.
