Tura, Aug 14: The head of the district and tasked with ensuring the implementation of Covid protocols has found himself at the receiving end after organising a public event that has been charged with breaking the pandemic guidelines.

West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh, and the District Sports Officer have been named in a police FIR filed on Saturday by two student activists, Greneth Sangma and Francis R Marak, representing the organization Constitutional Rights Forum (CRF) at the Tura police station.

Both officials have been accused of violating stringent guidelines against Covid that was enforced in the district by going ahead and holding a Pre- Independence Day Freedom Run held in the town of Tura.

The FIR accuses the district administration of violating its own government rules and demands stern action.

“There were hundreds of people who gathered at New Tura without any social distancing or wearing masks, which can be clearly seen in the pictures uploaded by the district administration itself,” mentioned the FIR by the Constitution Rights Forum and has asked police to register a regular case under appropriate sections of the law against their own district chief and the sports officer.

But the DC Ram Singh has stood his ground and brought it to public notice that it was a non- contact sport which is permitted under recent notification from the government.

“It’s never our intention to wilfully break covid protocols. There was an initial flag off during which they had gathered for less than a minute,” says Ram Singh.

However, the activists are not buying into Singh’s story as they point out that hundreds of people had gathered at New Tura and roadsides without any social distancing and masks evidence of which was put out on the social media handle of the district administration itself.

Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh, on the other hand has clarified that the organisers had requested everyone attending to follow protocols and that over 90 percent of the participants had informed of taking the vaccine. He also said that if everyone gets vaccinated then all can enjoy sports with limited restrictions.