President’s ‘At Home’ reception on Independence Day to be a limited affair

Tribune News Service 
New Delhi, August 14 

The traditional “At Home” reception hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind on the occasion of Independence Day will be a limited affair, with the list of invitees pruned down to around 100 guests in view of the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing norms. 

While the number of guests across the invited for Saturday’s event will be restricted to a few in each category of Cabinet Ministers, Council of Ministers, Supreme Court Judges, Civil Servants, Diplomatic Corps, and media, as a special gesture the Rashtrapati Bhawan invited 26 Covid Warriors. 

A Rashtrapati Bhawan official said in his brief address the President will acknowledge the contribution and commend the work of these warriors. The list of invitees in this category includes doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, lab technicians, police persons, sanitation staff and a MCD worker at Nigambodh Ghat. 

All the guests will be seated at designated tables laid in the Convention Hall. The invitees would have to wear a face mask and will have to remain seated in their allotted place. While refreshments served on the occasion would be placed on the tables for the invitees to savour, the Secretariat is making special arrangement to serve ‘samosas’ hot.  

As a matter of precaution, each person deputed to serve the guests at the table and staff members inside the centre underwent COVID-19 tests and were deputed only after they tested negative, sources in the Secretariat said. 

During earlier times, the guest list for receptions on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day was anywhere between 2,000-3,000 people representing a cross-section of society.