Bhubaneswar: In view of the rising cases of COVID-19 in certain areas of the state, the Odisha government Thursday re-imposed 14-day lockdown in four districts of the state and Rourkela Municipal limits to contain the spread of the disease.
Addressing a press meet through video-conferencing, Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy announced the government’s decision. The lockdown has been imposed in Ganjam, Khorda, Jajpur and Cuttack districts. The lockdown will come into effect from 9 pm July 17 and will remain in force till July 31 midnight.
“We decided to impose the lockdown to contain the disease and use the opportunity to do enhance monitoring and surveillance of the cases. During this lockdown, all shops, commercial establishments, offices and institutions shall remain closed, while mobility of people will be restricted,” Tripathy said, seeking cooperation from one and all.
The Chief Secretary said that only essential services such as grocery shops, medicine shops and healthcare institutions will be allowed to open. People in emergency services will be allowed to venture out during the period.
The government has allowed goods vehicle to move freely during the period, but barred public transport – except those ferrying passengers from railway stations, airports and bus stations.
The lockdown guidelines claim that shops selling vegetables, grocery and milk would remain open only between 6am and 1pm. “Home delivery of food, groceries, vegetables, egg, fish, meat and other essential items by restaurants and aggregators such as Zomato, Swiggy, OPOLFED, OMFED, Chilika Fresh will also be allowed,” according to the lockdown norms.
The government has, however, allowed agricultural activities, industries, fisheries, animal husbandry, IT firms and others to continue with their operations during the lockdown period with the least number of staff.
“Please carry a copy of the authorisation letter from the office while traveling during the lockdown, as the enforcement authorities will scrutinize the documents during checking,” Tripathy said.
The government said that those violating the norms will be penalised. “Any person violating these norms will be liable for prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005. Besides legal action under Section 1BB of the IPC, and other legal provisions such as Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897 can be initiated against the violators,” Tripathy said.