Tourists and local people gathered at the Ridge maidan here were evacuated from the ground on Friday evening and a high alert was issued in Himachal Pradesh after intel had warned of Pakistani-based elements planning a bomb blast at the Ridge area on the event of New Year.
Police had imposed Section 144 and vacated the ridge and Mall Road area after the Punjab police issued an alert stating a Pakistan-based terrorist was planning a bomb blast during new year celebration.
The report comes amid fears of the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus. Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI that thousands of people had gathered on the Ridge maidan on the eve of the new year and the district administration thought to vacate the overcrowded Ridge Maidan to check the Omicron spread.
About the presence of a bomb disposal squad on the Ridge, Negi said the squad along with fire tenders were deployed as a precautionary measure.
The Shimla administration decided to vacate the overcrowded Ridge to check the spread of omicron, he added.
Thousands of tourists from Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and nearby areas and local people had gathered at the Ridge Maidan but the police suddenly started vacating it at around 7.30 pm, a tourist said.
(with inputs from PTI)
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