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No lockdown for now but strict curbs, curfew in Pune from tomorrow evening
Amid a massive surge in Covid-19 infections, Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao announced fresh restrictions after reviewing the situation in the city, at a meeting chaired by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Friday.
Stringent curbs will be imposed on Pune district from Saturday evening with curfew to be in place from 6 pm to 6 am and all eateries, malls, cinema halls and religious places to remain shut for the next seven days.
The Pune administration, however, has decided against imposing complete lockdown similar to last year even as cases are rising sharply with the weekly positivity rate touching 32%.
Amid a massive surge in Covid-19 infections, Pune Divisional Commissioner Saurabh Rao announced fresh restrictions after reviewing the situation in the city, at a meeting chaired by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Friday.
Although new measures have been taken, all essential services are exempted from the restrictions. Besides curfew post evening, the assembly of more than four people has been prohibited during the daytime too.
The administration has also suspended the public transport service run by PMPML for common people. The intra-city buses will however, continue to run for those engaged in essential services. State transport bus service and inter-district travel has been permitted.
The new measures will come into force from 6 pm on Saturday and will be reviewed by next Friday.
Rao said while eateries, restaurants and bars will be closed for 7 days, parcel services and home delivery will be allowed. The closure order will not be applicable for shops selling cloth and liquor.
“The situation in Pune district has been deteriorating. Until last week, Pune’s positivity rate was up to 27 per cent. But this week the positivity rate has reached 32 per cent. According to health experts, if this situation persists, we will have 9000 Covid-19 cases per day from the existing daily caseload of 8000. After the discussion in the meeting with elected representatives these decisions have been taken. We are also focusing on increasing health infrastructure by ramping up beds,” Rao.
As part of the new curbs, weekly markets in rural areas of the district and parts of the city have been banned while the Market Yard (Agriculture Produce Market Committee) at Gultekdi will be operational under the watch of authorities to ensure the guidelines are being followed. Swimming polls and club houses in societies have been asked to remain shut for now.
Schools and colleges will continue to remain closed till April 30. Rao, however, clarified that students of class XII and class X are exempted from these restrictions while competitive examination coaching classes will be allowed to operate with 50 per cent capacity. The same rule is applicable to gyms. Gardens will be opened only in the morning.
“We were eagerly waiting for these decisions. Though official lockdown has not been declared, I fear that the situation will be the same as lockdown. PMT service is closed. Roadside stalls will be shut. It will surely affect our number of customers,” said Sanjeev Phadtare, Secretary, Tulashibag Traders Association.
