JEHANGIR RASHID
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Mar 22: The union territory of Jammu and Kashmir would go into complete lockdown from today evening following directions from Chief Secretary B V R Subrahmanyam. The step has been taken in order to ensure that deadly Corona Virus does not impact the population of the entire union territory.
Chief Secretary, Jammu and Kashmir issued directions after taking part in the video conference presided over by the Union Cabinet Secretary, Rajeev Gauba. After the meeting Subrahmanyam issued a letter to all the Deputy Commissioners of the union territory asking them to ensure that there is complete lockdown from March 22 (8 PM) to March 31 (6 PM).
In the order it has impressed upon all the Deputy Commissioners to ensure that the gathering or assembly of people in their respective districts is restricted to three persons. Divisional Commissioner Jammu, Sanjeev Verma and Divisional Commissioner Kashmir, Pandurang K Pole have been asked to monitor the compliance of directions in their respective divisions.
"In view of the need to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and break the transmission chain of the virus, it is necessary to enforce social distancing i.e., prevent/minimize close contact between people. Therefore, Deputy Commissioners/District Magistrates shall issue orders under Section 144 Cr PC and also under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (both acts) to shutdown all establishments except those providing essential commodities services in their districts from Sunday 22nd March, 2020 (8:00 PM) till Tuesday the 31st March, 2020 (6:00 PM)," reads the order issued by the Chief Secretary, Jammu & Kashmir.
Secretary Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Simrandeep Singh issued an order declaring 16 services as Essential services and commodities within the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
According to the order, the essential services will include supply of groceries (wholesalers and retailers), supply of fresh fruits and vegetables (mandis and retailers), dispensing of Petrol/Diesel at pumps, milk shops and dairies and related products, supply of cattle feed and fodder, medicines and other pharmaceuticals (retailers, wholesalers and manufacturing), banks and ATMs, supply of LPG (domestic and commercial), health services ( including movement of staff thereof), manufacturing of health and medical equipment, telecom operators and their designated agencies, newspapers, post offices, loading and unloading of Wheat and Rice at FCI and State food depots, transportation of essential commodities through National and State Highways (Petrol, Diesel, Kerosene, Milk, Vegetables, Fruits, groceries, FCI supplies etc.) and Provision of Electricity, Water Supply and Municipal and Sanitary Services (including movement of staff thereof).
It would be in place to here that a high level meeting was held today in the morning with Chief Secretaries of all the states by the Cabinet Secretary and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister. All the Chief Secretaries informed that there was overwhelming and spontaneous response to the call for Janta Curfew given by the Prime Minister.
In view of the need to contain the spread of COVID 19, it was agreed that there is urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport including inter-state transport buses till March 31, 2020. Following detailed discussions, the state governments were advised to issue appropriate orders to allow only essential services to operate in the 75 districts which have reported confirmed cases or casualties relating to COVID 19.
The state governments may expand the list depending on their assessment of the situation. It was noted that several state governments have already issued orders in this regard. |
