As the Janata curfew announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi completed successfully on Sunday, the Centre requested the state governments to completely lock down 75 selected districts across the country where coronavirus cases have been reported. The districts where lockdown was announced are from states that include Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The total number of coronavirus cases rose to 341 on Sunday.
It was agreed that there was an urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport, including interstate transport buses, till March 31. In the meeting, it was decided to suspend all train services till March 31, including suburban rail services. However, goods trains are exempted. All metro rail services were also suspended till March 31. The decisions have been taken at a high-level meeting attended by chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister. The railways announced suspension of all its 13,523 passenger trains from March 22 midnight to March 31 midnight and said only goods trains will run during the said period. The suspensions also include all suburban train services.
It was also been decided to suspend the interstate bus services till March 31, the officials said. The decisions have been taken at a high-level meeting attended by chief secretaries of all states and the cabinet secretary and the principal secretary to the prime minister.
What a lockdown will look like will depend on the state government. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, for instance, said that the state had no plan to impose a lockdown in seven districts as media reports suggested. "The reports that it has been decided to impose a lockdown in seven districts are baseless. The state government has not decided to impose any new curb in the districts. However, officials have been directed to strictly follow the existing restrictions," he said in a Facebook post.
But, a general overview of the orders passed by the governments of states like Delhi and Rajasthan will give us an overall idea of what a lockdown might look like:
What would a Delhi lockdown look like?
The Delhi government, under the Epidemic Diseases Act, announced that it was illegal for more than five people to congregate, traffic will be regulated and NCT borders with neighbouring states like Haryana and Uttar Pradesh will be closed.
a. No public transport services including operation of private buses, taxis, autorickshaws, rickshaws and e-rickshaws etc. shall be permitted. Only DTC buses shall operate at not more than 25% capacity to cater to personnel engaged in essential services.
b. All shops, commercial establishments, factories, workshops, offices, godowns, weekly bazaars etc. shall close their operations.
c. The motorable and unmotorable borders ofNCT of Delhi with the neighbouring states of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh shall be sealed.
d. Movement of inter-state buses/trains/metro (DMRC) shall be suspended.
e. All domestic/international flights arriving to Delhi during this period shall be suspended.
f. Construction activity of any kind shall be suspended.
g. All religious places of any denomination shall be closed.
h. People are required to stay at home and come out only for basic services (as enumerated below) within the vicinity of their residences while strictly following the social distancing guidelines issued earlier.
The following services/establishments were excluded from the purview of this order and shall continue to function normally:
a. Offices charged with law and order and magisterial duties Police Health Fire Prisons Fair Price Shops (Public Distribution System) Electricity
b. Water
c. Municipal Services
d. Activities related to functioning of Legislative Assembly of Delhi k. Pay and Accounts Office (only for salary/wages/contingent/health & essential services related expenditure)
e. Print and Electronic Media
f. Cashier/Teller operations of banks (including ATMs) n. Telecom, Internet and Postal services
g. E-commerce of all essential goods including food, pharmaceutical and medical equipment
h. Food items, groceries (fruits/vegetables/milk/ bakery items, meat, fish etc.)
i. Milk plants
j. General Provision stores
k. Take away/ home delivery in restaurants.
l. Chemists and Pharmacies.
m. Petrol pumps, LPG/Oil agencies (including their godown and transportation related activities)
n. Animal fodder w. Manufacturing, processing, transportation, distribution, storage, trade/commerce and logistics related to all the above services/establishments and commodities required for delivery of these above services.
o. Any other essential service/establishment that may be exempted by the government
What will a lockdown in Rajasthan look like?
Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday directed a "complete lockdown" in the state, except for essential services, till March 31. All government offices, malls, factories, public transport etc. will remain shut during the period, he said in a statement. There will be a "complete lockdown", barring essential and medical services, in the state from March 22 to March 31 to contain the spread of novel coronavirus and keep people safe, he said after a high-level meeting with the top officials. The chief minister directed officials to provide good grains for free till May to more than 1 crore families registered under National Food Security Act (NFSA). Those who live in urban areas and are not in NFSA list will be provided food packets free of cost for two months beginning April 1, he said Gehlot also appealed to factory owners to provide paid leaves to their employees during the lockdown. The Labour department will continue to work in coordination with factory owners. On Saturday, market remained shut in the state capital and a few other districts.
Andhra Pradesh lockdown
Moving for a complete lockdown to fight the coronavirus, Andhra Pradesh government on Sunday announced closure of inter-state borders for transport till March 31 and asked people to step out of their homes only for essential needs. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said Public transport within state and inter-state would be shut while the government will also be run with skeletal staff, with employees working in rotation basis. He also announced free ration to the poor and Rs 1000 assistance per family.
