Authorities move to strictly enforce lockdown

New Delhi, Mar 23 (PTI With the lockdown due to coronavirus extended to 20 states and Union Territories, curfew was imposed in Punjab, Maharashtra and Puducherry on Monday as state governments acted with a sense of urgency to strictly enforce the restrictions on movement of people, deploying police on streets, sealing borders and booking violators. Similar lockdown was imposed in many districts of six other states and UTs, but concerns mounted that people were not following the restrictions, prompting the Centre to ask the states to take strict legal action against those defying the curbs and increasing the risk of community transmission as the number of cases mounted to above 430.

Kerala, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh ordered statewide lockdown on Monday till March 31, joining Delhi, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Nagaland. Similar curbs were announced in multiple districts of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, allowing only essential services, barring people from venturing out and restricting entry and exit of people at borders. Several state governments have issued advisory to private establishments not to terminate employees or reduce wages.

A day after the Janta curfew, when people voluntarily stayed indoors for 14 hours across the country, people were seen on roads, markets and heading to bus terminals. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too lamented that the people were not following the restrictions seriously and urged the states to ensure that rules and regulations are followed.

After suspension of all passenger trains and interstate bus services till March 31, the government announced that no domestic flight will be allowed to operate in the country from midnight Tuesday till the month-end. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh announced the imposition of curfew, with officials citing defying of restrictions by people in the state which has reported 21 cases. Curfew was also imposed in the Union Territory of Chandigarh, the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana.

Hours later Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that curfew will be imposed from Monday midnight in the state as the fight against coronavirus has reached a turning point. The state has reported 97 cases. "We will not tolerate crowd in public places at any cost. Except in case of an emergency, no one will be allowed to roam on streets. If these guidelines are violated, people will face legal action," Thackeray said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said his government will take strict action against violators. He said on the first day of the lockdown, it was observed that several people involved in providing essential services reached late to work and faced several hassles. Other chief ministers too urged the people to strictly follow the restrictions, warning that action will be taken against the violators. In Aurangabad, Maharashtra, a policeman was booked for holding a marriage function of his daughter on Sunday evening in Harsul-Phulambri police station.

Twenty-nine people have been booked in Rajasthan for violating prohibitory orders and spreading rumours. Also a case has been registered in Ahmedabad against the group of residents who assembled on Sunday evening in Khadia when people rang bells and other instruments to pay tributes to the frontline staff involved in the fight against coronavirus.

Action was also taken against people violating quarantine guidelines. In Odisha, police said criminal cases were registered against four persons including a Bhubaneswar-based couple, for violating quarantine guidelines. In Kerala, priest Pauly Padayatti, Vicar of the Lady of Perpetual Help church at Koodapuzha in Chalakudy, was arrested and later let off on bail for conducting a mass on Monday morning in which at least 100 people had participated, police said. Police personnel were deployed in strength and barricades put up many at places in the states. Police were seen stopping vehicles and sending back many people to their homes after ascertaining that they were out for non-essential work. At many places in Punjab and Maharashtra, they were asking shops and offices to close and telling people to go back to their homes.

Though shops selling groceries and other essential items are exempted, people rushed to stock rations. Officials said any person found violating the containment measures shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 188 of the IPC (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant).

Establishments providing essential services like the ones tasked with law and order and magisterial duties, police, medical and health, sanitation, fire services, banks and ATMs, electricity, water supply etc are out of the purview of restrictions. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami told the Assembly that the state will be under a lockdown till March 31 from 6 PM on Tuesday. Police personnel, wearing masks, were deployed in strength across Jammu region to enforce the lockdown to counter the spread of novel coronavirus in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

Many roads in the city and elsewhere were blocked by barbed wire to restrict the movement of people as policemen went around localities in their vehicles fitted with public address system, warning the residents of strict action if they try to violate CrPC Section 144 that has been promulgated across the region. Over 35 districts in Madhya Pradesh have so far declared lockdown, including state capital Bhopal.