Haryana announces complete lockdown, borders to be sealed

In an attempt to check the spread of Covid-19 in the state, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced a complete lockdown of the entire state

In an attempt to check the spread of Covid-19 in the state, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday announced a complete lockdown of the entire state starting Tuesday morning. All borders with neighbouring states will be closed and the movement of vehicles, barring those carrying essential supplies,stopped, Khattar said at a digital press conference.

HT Image

The CM also announced that barring the sale of essentials items, the government will not allow any commercial operations in the state. Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firms would be allowed to operate because they have been included among essential services, said the CM.

On Sunday, the Haryana government had announced a lockdown in seven districts of the state until March 31 and these included Gurugram and Faridabad. The lockdown will now be effective in all the 22 districts.

The government also announced the setting up of a voluntary fund, the Haryana corona relief fund, which would be used to help the people affected by the lockdown.

“We have decided to extend the lockdown in 15 more districts of Haryana as a precautionary measure so that spread of this virus is prevented,” said Khattar.

A senior government official in Chandigarh later confirmed that private vehicles will not be allowed to cross the state borders and in case of an emergency, permission of the district administration was necessary. “Only commercial vehicles carrying essential items would be allowed to move across state borders,” he said, requesting anonymity.

For residents of urban areas, the government also announced the extension of the date for payment of electricity and municipal bills up to April 15. Taxes to be paid by commercial vehicles operators under the Haryana Motor Vehicle Act can now be paid until April 30 without any penalty.

A slew of measures were also announced by the state government for daily workers, casual workers and families living below the poverty line (BPL) to provide them relief in cash and kind. “We are setting up Haryana Corona Relief Fund and I contribute ₹5 lakh from my account to it. All the MLAs in Haryana have decided to contribute a month’s salary to this fund. I request all the employees and corporates to generously contribute as this money would be used to help the affected,” said Khattar.

The bank account number of the relief fund is 39234755902 and it has been opened in the State Bank of India branch at Panchkula with IFSC Code SBIN0013180.

The government also announced that ₹4,500 per month would be given to families of construction workers registered with the Haryana Construction Workers Welfare Board. It will also transfer this amount to families of casual workers, vendors and other workers in the unorganised sector registered with the district administration. Those workers who are not registered can get this done by filling a form available with officials of the district administrations, the CM said.

The CM also announced that free rations for would be given to BPL families, and those registered under the CM Sahayata Yojana will get an additional Rs 2,000 by April 1. “I have also asked the government departments to pay salary to all contractual workers and there should be no retrenchment right now. I also appeal to private firms and business houses to refrain from retrenching their employees and instead help them,” Khattar said.