Should Delhi end weekend, night curfew? Govt skeds meeting to decide on Thursday

Covid-19 restrictions: The decision to schedule the review meeting comes a day after the number of daily infections in the national Capital dropped below the 10,000-mark for the first time in 19 days to 9,127, and the daily test positivity rate fell to 13.3%.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is likely to decide on Thursday whether weekend and night curfew and the restrictions on markets in Delhi should be lifted in the wake of an improvement in the Covid-19 situation.

Shankar Market area wears a deserted look during the weekend curfew imposed by the Delhi government to curb the spread of Covid-19, in New Delhi, Sunday (PTI)

The DDMA has called a meeting at 12:30pm on January 27 to review the prevailing Covid-19 situation with experts, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and others including top officials and take a final decision. Lieutenant governor Anil Baijal, who is the chairman of the DDMA, will chair the meeting.

The decision to schedule the review meeting comes a day after the number of daily infections in the national Capital dropped below the 10,000-mark for the first time in 19 days to 9,127, and the daily test positivity rate fell to 13.3%.

On Friday, the DDMA issued a fresh order allowing private offices to reopen with 50% on-site staff but ordered that the weekend and night curfews will continue in the Capital, notwithstanding a request from the city’s elected government that sought these curbs to be rolled back in light of a fall in the number of cases.

A DDMA official said the decision to continue the restrictions was taken because the positivity rate was still over 21% as on Thursday.

Traders from across the Capital have demanded lifting of the curbs and appealed to DDMA that it is wrong to restrict people from moving out to earn for their survival.

BJP leader and leader of opposition in Delhi assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri said he will meet lieutenant Govnoer Anil Baijal with all BJP MLAs on Tuesday to demand the withdrawal of odd-even restrictions on the markets and weekend curfew.

“We will apprise the LG of the problems being faced by the people due to the restrictions and request him to withdraw the restrictions,” Bidhuri said in a statement.

Confederation of All India Traders general secretary Praveen Khandelwal has also written a letter to the LG seeking reconsideration of the DDMA’s Friday decision.