Bengaluru: Local residents in the city of Chikkamagaluru on Sundays clogged tourist vehicles to Mullanyanagiri, the highest peak in Karnataka, because of concerns the entry of people will lead to Covid-19 infection that spreads in the area.
Local residents were also annoyed with the administrative district of Chikkamagaluru because it allowed uncontrolled access to tourist attractions in this district.
Nearly 200 vehicles were detained in place after rapid protests and threw traffic out of the equipment in the area.
Even though tourists begged protesters to allow them to graduate, residents refused to relax and continue to block traffic.
Finally, Chikkamagaluru police rushed to the place and calming protesters.
Visitors, most of Bengaluru, have to wait for hours and finally return without visiting the peak.
The demonstrators demanded that the authorities regulate the flow of travelers and make it mandatory that they provide Covid negative reports to enter the district.
While the daily number of positive cases has diminished in the state, it continues to be high in the Malnad district and this makes the locals worry.
Once the residents issued a protest at Kiaimara Circle in the city, youth congressional workers joined and supported protests against tourists in Greenrich Regency.
Kn Ramesh, Deputy Deputy Commissioner, said the district administration would frame the rules to limit tourists in the coming days.
He said they would establish a special task force to track tourist flow, but he refused to comment on the demand for locals that visitors produced Covid negative reports on the posts.
Meanwhile, in the adjacent Shivamogga District, the authorities continued to face a difficult time to regulate visitors to fall jogging.
The district government has made it mandatory for those who visit the waterfall to complete the negative reports of Covid-19.
The Jog Management Authority has set three layers of security to manage in a hurry.
Srinivas, Director of Jog Management Authority, said they had established ChartPost to filter tourists and checked Covid negative reports.
He said it had helped prevent crowding on the waterfall.
He said though he was high, the crowd was smaller on Sunday compared to the previous weekend.