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In Bengal’s lockdown 4.0 guidelines, no official curfew at night: Mamata
Extending the ongoing lockdown till May 31 in West Bengal, the Chief Minister announced a slew of relaxations and said her government will not impose night curfew in the state as proposed by the Centre.
The West Bengal government on Monday extended lockdown in the state till May 31, but with one key exception. There will be no official night curfew in West Bengal, but people are requested not to venture out after 7 pm, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said announcing Bengal’s lockdown 4.0 guidelines.
“There will be no official night curfew in West Bengal, but people are requested not to venture out after 7 pm. Hawkers will be allowed to reopen shops in non-containment zones in Bengal from May 27,” Banerjee said.
Extending the ongoing lockdown till May 31 in West Bengal, the Chief Minister announced a slew of relaxations and said her government will not impose night curfew in the state as proposed by the Centre.
She said hawkers, salons and parlour owners will be allowed to reopen their shops from May 27.
The West Bengal CM said that apart from 105 trains, which the state has already requisitioned, the state government will request the railways for 120 more Shramik Special trains in the next few days to bring back migrant labourers stranded in other states.
“We won’t officially declare night curfew because people are already under a lot of stress. We do not want to increase their suffering. But we will request people not to venture out of their homes between 7 pm and 7 am or else police will take action,” she elaborated.
In West Bengal, containment zones will be divided into three categories-- affected zones, buffer zones and clean zones, she said. The zones under containment are expected to be divided into segments based on high and low levels of infection.
Lockdown.4.0 in West Bengal will continue till May 31. But there will be a few more relaxations in the coming days. Hawkers and markets will be allowed to reopen from next week and the inter-district bus service will also begin soon, Banerjee said.
Standalone shops in non-containment and green zones are likely to remain open in Bengal from 7 am to 6 pm, a senior government official said.
The Centre on Sunday extended the lockdown for two more weeks till May 31, with the fourth phase providing more relaxations outside the containment zones including inter-state movement of buses with mutual consent of states that is expected to be of immediate relief for thousands of migrant workers on the roads.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Sunday night said the fresh guidelines for the fourth phase of the nationwide lockdown were issued after taking the opinion of the state governments following a video conference held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the chief ministers on May 11.
