Aurangabad, Feb 26:
No more than five people are expected to gather in the city when there is a curfew order. However, a luncheon was attended by more than a hundred people at the AVTS workshop on Friday to mark the retirement of a group director at the government ITI. All programmes were organised in a hall, floating all norms of social distancing.
Rajendra Bhatankar has retired from the post of group director. Due to Covid-19, the district administration imposed restrictions on private, government programmes. However, all the restrictions were being ignored during the retirement ceremony. Several people were present during the ceremony. However, ITI principal Abhijit Alte said that it was not a government event. He also asked this reporter if there was a crowd. He said that there were only 20 to 30 people. Two former principals of the organization were also present on the occasion. Despite Alte's orders not to crowd the programme, the rush continued. Bhatankar also stated that the programme was organised only for 50 people. He said that there were only 33 chairs in the hall and preventive measures were being followed.
Personal event
Retirement programmes take place every month. This is not a government program. As Rajendra Bhatankar has retired, he personally hosted a luncheon for the staff. We had instructed them to send food to the staff tables said, Abhijeet Alte, principal, government ITI.