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Leisure buying must stop, says Pune police commissioner K Venkatesham
K Venkatesham urged residents of Pune to stop buying non-perishable essentials on a daily basis and stock up for a few days to reduce the number of people on the streets
Pune police commissioner K Venkatesham urged residents of Pune to stop buying non-perishable essentials on a daily basis and stock up for a few days to reduce the number of people on the streets.
“People must stop buying things on a daily basis. Stock up for the next 8-10 days. It is necessary to reduce the number of people on the streets. We have finished two weeks of lockdown and Pune citizens have supported us so far,” said commissioner Venkatesham.
“There was no complaint of crowding and the two hours of relaxation for buying of essential goods were observed by the residents of Kondhwa very well. We spread awareness through mobile public announcement systems and the masjids in the area,” said Suhas Bawche, deputy commissioner of police, Zone-5 of Pune police.
Commissioner Venkatesham was speaking on the second day of curfew announced in four parts of the city in light of increase in positive cases in the city. The rest of the city, along with the entire country, remains under lockdown until April 14. However, in the curfewed areas, shops providing essential goods, except pharmacies, will remain open only between 10am and 12 noon.
“A geospecific map of places where positive cases were found was drawn up and the curfew was announced based on that,” said commissioner Venkatesham.
He visited the Katraj chowk along with joint commissioner Ravindra Shisve; additional commissioner Sanjay Shinde, where over 200 policemen performed a route march to assert their presence in the area.
Two companies of state reserve police force (SRPF) have been provided to the city police and are being kept on reserve for enforcement of the curfew and assembly prohibition orders.
“We have almost finished the list of people who were present at the Markaz (Tablighi Jamaat, Nizamuddin). The foreign returned nationals as well as those in home quarantine are being tackled by the PMC and revenue department officials. We have developed the HQTS system where a person in home quarantine can upload a selfie (to ensure they are at home),” he said.
He also warned citizens of police action if they failed to adhere to the lockdown rules. So far, 9,900 vehicles have been seized and over 4,500 cases under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code for violating lockdown rules have been registered in the city, he claimed.
