Bhubaneswar: In view of increasing cases of Corona infection in Odisha, the state government will re-enforce 14-day complete lockdown in 4-high caseload districts—Cuttack, Khurda, Jajpur and Ganjam, and entire Rourkela Municipal Corporation area from tonight. However, there will be no weekend shutdown in the specified districts during this 2-week long lockdown.
Odisha Chief Secretary Asit Tripathy on Thursday informed that the lockdown restrictions would come into effect from 9 PM of 17 July and continue till 31 July.
Aggressive surveillance will be conducted during the period in these areas to contain the spread of the disease, Tripathy said.
The restrictions in the four districts and RMC were imposed after different surveys showed that these account for 66 per cent of the total cases in the state. 90 per cent of the cases in Sundergarh district have been detected in Rourkela alone.
Unnecessary movement of people to Bhubaneswar and Cuttack will be barred and nobody will be allowed to enter into these cities without a valid reason, he added.
However, shops selling essentials will remain open from 6 am to 1 pm every day, the chief secretary said, appealing to the people to refrain from panic buying.
Other than these four districts and Rourkela Municipal Corporation, the weekend shutdown will continue in rest of the districts, according to the notification released by the Special Relief Commissioner.
During the lockdown, all shops and commercial establishments, offices and institutions shall remain closed and mobility of people will be strictly restricted with the following exemptions:
Central govt establishments
- Defence
- Central Armed Police Forces
- Treasury including Pay & Accounts Offices, Financial Advisers and Field Offices of the Comptroller General of Accounts with bare minimum staff
- Central Government offices on emergency duty
- Post Offices
- Telecom Services including their maintenance offices and’ movement of, associated personnel
- National Informatics Centre
- Early Warning Agencies including IMD
- Customs clearance at ports, airports land border; GSTN; and MCA 21 Registry, with bare minimum staff
- Reserve Bank of India and RBI regulated financial markets and entities like NPCI, CCIL, ATMs, Clearing Houses, payment system operators and standalone primary dealers, with bare minimum staff.
Odisha govt establishments
- Disaster Management establishments
- State Government officials on emergency duty
- District and Municipal Administration/ Police/ Fire Services/ Government officials on emergency duty
Utilities and Essential Services
- All medical establishments including Govt. and private hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, including medicine stores, Movement of ambulance and all medical personnel including Doctors & Paramedics
- Water supply, sanitation, and sewerage workers
- Power generation, transmission, and distribution
Transport
- Movement of air, sea and rail transport. Operations of Airports, Railway Stations, Bus Terminals and their associated offices, movement of associated personnel and activities
- Road transport and movement of transiting vehicles on highways
- Movement of goods and goods carriers, whether loaded or unloaded
- Movement of Public Transport, private vehicles and taxis (including cabs by aggregators like Ola, Uber, etc.) to and from airports, railway station and bus terminals/ stands/ stops, for facilitating movement of passengers by air, rail and road
Vegetables, Food & Grocery
- Shops selling vegetables, grocery and milk between 6 am to 1 pm
- 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 etc.
Economic and Other activities
- Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Veterinary ‘ Services, and allied activities
- All industrial units, factories and construction activities
- IT/ITeS units with bare minimum staff for critical operations
- Operation of hotels and hospitality units, including their associated offices, movement of staff and associated personnel
- Dhabas along National and State Highways/ major roads for takeaway only
- Petrol pumps, CNG Stations and LPG, including their bottling, distribution and retail outlets
- Operations of E-commerce establishments such as Flipkart, Amazon etc including their warehousing and delivery activities
- Print and Electronic Media identified by Commissionerate/ district Police
- Marriages and Funerals, with permission of local authority
Also Read: Covid-19 Tally Burgeons In Odisha With 718 New Positives, 4 Deaths