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Even as three persons tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday, Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced night curfew from 7 pm to 6 am, to restrict people’s movement on the roads. Strict action will be taken against the violators. All shops should close by 6 pm.
Asking the people to stay home and follow the prohibitory orders, he warned that the government could even go for shoot-at-sight orders or even deploying military.
He directed MLAs, MLCs, MPs, corporators and local body representatives to join the police and revenue officials in enforcing the restrictions and ensure there’s no hoarding and blackmarketing.
He cautioned the traders and businesses against increasing prices of vegetables and other essential commodities. “We will not hesitate to arrest and file PD (preventive detention) cases and cancel trade licences,” he said.
The Chief Minister has also warned those returned from the abroad and put under home quarantine to strictly adhere to the norms. “If they violate the quarantine norms, we will have the passports cancelled. They will never be able to get a passport,” he said.
He said the farmers are exempt from the restrictions as they are harvesting rabi crop of 50 lakh acres. Those seeking NREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) works will also be allowed take up works.
Three new cases
Meanwhile, three persons tested positive on Tuesday. One person at Kukatpally (returned from London), another at Chandanagar (returned from Germany), and another in Begumpet, who recently visited Dubai, were tested positive.
“We, however, have about 114 suspected (Corona) cases. Of them, 82 returned from abroad. In all, about 19,313 people who arrived in Hyderabad after March 1 are under surveillance. We ordered the officials to confiscate their passports to keep tabs on them,” the chief Minister said.
Journalists exempted
The Chief Minister has directed the Director General of Police, Mahender Reddy, to instruct the police not to create hurdles for journalists. Referring to a few incidents where police behaved rudely with journalists, he said the journalists were doing help by disseminating information. “You should not stop them from working,” he said.
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