COVID: Ladakh admin postpones Sindhu Darshan festival in Leh

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LEH: The Ladakh administration has postponed the famous ‘Sindhu Darshan’ festival in view of the surge in COVID-19 cases here, officials said on Friday.
The festival is held in Leh every year in June on the full moon day of Guru Purnima and this year it was scheduled to be held from June 19 to 27.
“Given the unprecedented COVID situation in Ladakh and across India, the Union Territory administration and the event organisers have decided to postpone the event till the situation improves”, Secretary, Tourism and Culture department , Mehboob Ali Khan, said during a meeting convened to review the progress of the ongoing work at Sindhu Ghat and Indus river front.
Khan said the well-being of the people in Ladakh is of paramount importance and no such event would be organised that compromises the health and safety of the people.
During ‘Sindhu Darshan’, devotees gather near the banks of the Indus river, which is known as the Sindhu river in India. Since 1997, the festival has stretched for three days, attracting large number of foreign and domestic tourists.