Curfew relaxed from 9 am -2 pm in Kangra, food joints to operate without dine-in
DHARAMSALA, 4 May: Himachal Pradesh has decided to relax daily curfew restrictions for five-hours as it announced its curfew modification order to tackle the COVID-19 Pandemic in the state.
“There shall be relaxation in curfew from 9 am to 2 pm daily during which permitted shops can open and the public could move out to access their services,” stated the curfew modification order issued by the Office of District Magistrate, Kangra.
The movements, however, should be on foot wearing masks,/face-cover it added.
Apart from the increasing the daily curfew relaxation from four to five hours, “Restaurants, cafes, eating joints, sweet shops and dhabas” are now allowed to “operate take away service and home delivery during curfew relaxation hours.”
The order issued by the District Magistrate has directed all shopkeepers who open their shops to “download, install and use the Aarogya Setu App; a mobile application developed by the Government of India to connect essential health services with the people of India in their combined fight against COVID-19
Additionally, liquor vends authorised by the government along with the banks, ATMs and post offices will operate for the public from 9 am to 2 pm.
All shopkeepers including liquor vend operators/licensees were ordered to enforce social distancing among customers else the authorities will seal the shop for the remaining period of lockdown.
The general public can go out for morning walk as announced a week ago by the government between 5:30 am to 7:00 am within localities of residences wearing of masks.
The order on the closure of barbershops, hair salon, beauty parlours, bars, spas, cinema halls, shopping malls, sports complexes, swimming pools, entertainments parks, theatres, auditoriums, assembly halls and gyms in the state however rains in place.
Additionally, the order stated that “Inter-district and intra-district plying of buses shall remain prohibited except for special purposes with permission,” while “plying of taxis shall be allowed with one driver and two passengers.”
“Any person contravening this order shall be liable for prosecution under Sections 269, 270 and 188 of IPC, 1860”, Kangra Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati has said in the order.
Himachal, a northern Indian state in the Himalayas has so far reported 41 coronavirus cases and 2 deaths. Of the lot, 34 patients have been cured, while now while four patients from Solan district were reportedly shifted to a private hospital outside Himachal.
Himachal now has only 1 active COVID-19 case, a patient from Sirmaur being treated at a Hospital in Baddi.
Himachal’s Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday commended the collective efforts of several agencies and the support rendered by the people, as he remarked that the “Himachal Pradesh will soon become coronavirus free.
He credited the strict vigilance and restrictions on the movement of people as the two important measures that helped Himachal Pradesh contain and fight the pandemic.
Out of the 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh, 11 are now coronavirus free. Kangra became coronavirus free with the recovery of district’s last two remaining COVID-19 patients on Thursday.
