Railways stations, shops in Mumbai see crowding as Maharashtra imposes curfew to curb Covid-19

Many people had gathered at major departmental stores and groceries to stock up on essentials even.

A day after the Maharashtra government announced curfew-like restrictions on public movement for the next 15 days across the state, to check the spread of the rising cases of coronavirus disease, a large crowd gathered at Mumbai's Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) station in Mumbai on Wednesday even as the personnel of the Central Railway appealed to the people not to panic and avoid crowding.

Shops and stores selling essential goods have been kept outside the purview of the curfew. (HT PHOTO)

Those who had gathered had gone to the station in a bid to leave the city, amid fear of a prolonged lockdown that the country witnessed last year when the suburban train services across the city were suspended at midnight of March 22 and gradually resumed from June 15.

Many people had gathered at major departmental stores and groceries to stock up on essentials even. Shops and stores selling essential goods have been kept outside the purview of the curfew.

Reeling under an unprecedented Covid-19 wave, the Maharashtra government on Tuesday announced severe, curfew-like restrictions on public movement over the next 15 days across the state.

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The restrictions, however, exclude essential services and will come into effect from 8pm on Wednesday and remain in force till 7am on May 1.

Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), prohibiting the assembly of more than five people, will be in force during the period.

As per the order issued by the Mumbai police, all establishments, public places, activities, services, shall remain closed and nobody will visit public places without a valid reason.

The services and activities mentioned in the essential category are exempted from the order during the period. They are also exempted from 7am to 8pm on working days and their movement and operations will remain unrestricted, the order stated.

People have been asked to follow the social distancing norms, use a face mask and observe the directions of the state government issued to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

Maharashtra reported its second-highest single-day infection spike on Tuesday with 60,212 cases, taking the tally to 3,519,208. The death toll from the pandemic touched 58,526, with 281 reported deaths.