By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: The Naveen Patnaik Government in Odisha on Thursday announced impose night curfew in all the urban centers across the state besides weekend shutdowns in 10 districts bordering Chhattisgarh from Saturday.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, said night curfew in 10 bordering districts, mandatory RT-PCR negative report for entry into the state, strict enforcement of compulsory mask wearing and maintaining social distancing.
Apart from 10 western Odisha districts like Sundergarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Bolangir, Nabarngpur. Koraput and Malkangiri bordering Chhattisgarh where the number of active cases has breached 1 lakh mark, Mohapatra said the COVID-19 surge is also witnessed in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other urban pockets.
Therefore, he said, the government has decided to impose night curfew from 9 pm tm to 5 am in urban areas in 20 other districts while the night curfew tiing has been changed from 10 pm to 60 in 10 bordering districts to 6 pm to 5 am.While there will be no night curfew in rural pockets of the 20 other districts, it will remain in force from 6 pm to 5 am in village areas of 10 bordering districts.
The Chief Secretary said the government has already announced postponement of all board examinations including Matriculation examinations for standard 10 students and Plus-II examination for the class 12 students. Similarly, the CBSE has issued a directive from April 18 for all English medium schools in the state affiliated with CBSE and Odisha Adarsh Vidyalaya. All English medium schools and hostels run by them in the state will be closed from April 18.
While totally banning mass congregations like political, social, cultural and other events, the chief secretary said the authorities of district administration and municipal corporations, may issue orders for their respective jurisdictions, under appropriate provisions of law, such as under section 144 of CrPC, and ensure strict compliance of the COVID-19 protocols in the state.
Meanwhile, the state government has appointed 21 senior IAS officers as COVID Observers of various districts. The General Administration and Public Grievance Department today issued an official order in this regard.Among the officials, Anu Garg and N Thirumala Naik will serve as COVID Observers of the capital city. Besides, Nikunja Bihari Dhal has been appointed for hotspot districts like Jharsuguda and Sundargarh.
