Maharashtra To Have 5 PM To 5 AM Lockdown? Govt Mulling Over 12-Hour Night Curfew Amid Rising Covid Cases

Recently, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar had also stated that a lockdown may be imposed in the capital city seeing the Coronavirus situation.

(Representative Image: AFP)

Mumbai: Maharashtra relief and rehabilitation minister Vijay Wadettiwar talked about the possibility of the state government imposing a 12-hour night curfew, “between 5 pm and 5 am”, in areas with serious Coronavirus transmission.

Maharashtra government is mulling over imposing a 12-hour night curfew and a strict penalty of Rs 1 lakh on wedding halls that are spotted violating Covid-19 norms by allowing over 50 attendees. A meeting will be held with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray in the coming week to finalise the decision.

The concern over spiking cases in Maharashtra, a state that faced the worst Covid-19 spread last year, has once again brought up the situation where the need to re-impose lockdown norms is being discussed.

“We will ask district administrations, including collectors and municipal commissioners, to take a final call on lockdowns depending on conditions in their areas. During the curfew, all places like marriage halls, markets, cinema halls and others where crowds gather would be closed. The surge is due to a majority of people becoming careless and not following Covid-19 protocols like wearing masks and maintaining distancing,” Wadettiwar told Times Of India.

“We are also considering regulating vegetable markets. Such places may be allowed to remain open from 10 am to 5 pm with restrictions,” he said.

Recently, Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar had also stated that a lockdown may be imposed in the capital city seeing the situation.

Restrictions In Pune

Pune Divisional Commissioner announced on Sunday that from 11 PM to 6 AM, no public movement will be allowed except for those involved in essential services, in view of rising Coronavirus cases. Schools and Colleges in the district will remain closed till February 28. The new guidelines will be effective from tomorrow.

BMC In Action

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), on Saturday, sealed as many as 1,305 buildings amid the serious Covid situation.

"The Mumbai civic body sealed 1,305 buildings with 71,838 households after 2,749 cases were registered in the city," news agency ANI quoted the BMC as saying.

T Ward (Mulund) has the most number of buildings and floors sealed at 233, followed by N ward (Ghatkopar) and P South (Goregaon) with 125 sealed buildings. The civic body officials had informed that earlier a building was being sealed if it had 10 positive cases, but now even if a building has five cases, the BMC is ordering it to be closed.

Besides Maharashtra, according to the union government, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh have recorded an upsurge in daily new cases in the last seven days, making it 5 states that are currently a cause of concern.