Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal exhorted the residents of the national capital to join the fight against the novel coronavirus by embracing the Delhi lockdown, which begins on Monday. The Delhi government on Sunday had announced a lockdown of the national capital from 6am on March 23 to March 31 in an effort to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
The lockdown entails, amongst other measures, a ban on gatherings of more than five people, suspension of all public transport, shutting down of all commercial establishments, bazaars and offices and closing of inter-state borders.
“The Delhi lockdown begins today. Residents of Delhi, even at personal difficulty, you fought against pollution with the odd-even scheme. You campaigned against dengue. Please join the fight against COVID-19 with this lockdown and protect your families,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi.
आज से दिल्ली में लॉकडाउन शुरू। मेरे दिल्लीवासियों, आपने व्यक्तिगत परेशानी उठाकर पल्यूशन को हराने के लिए Odd Even कर दिखाया। आपने डेंगू के खिलाफ महा अभियान को अपनाया। मुझे विश्वास है Covid-19 से अपने परिवार को बचाने के लिए आप लॉकडाउन में भी अपना सहयोग दे कर इस लड़ाई को जीतेंगे।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) March 23, 2020
Public transport, including autos or taxis, have been suspended. Delhi Metro had announced that it will suspend its services till March 31. Interstate buses and trains will also not run as part of the lockdown. The government, however, said that 25 per cent of the buses run by Delhi Transport Corporation will function. Domestic and international flights will be halted as well.
Commercial establishments, shops, bazaars, factories, godowns or private offices will also be shut during the lockdown. Religious places will remain closed.
Only offices that deal with law and order and magisterial duties, hospitals and health infrastructure, fire department, prison department, ration shops, electricity offices, water supply offices and municipal services, the pay and accounts office of Delhi government, print and electronic media, banking services, telecom, internet and postal services and e-commerce services catering to medicines and grocery will be exempt from the lockdown.
The government had also announced that the budget session of the Delhi Assembly that was scheduled to be from March 23 to 27 will be curtailed to just one day in view of the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget session will be held only on Monday.
-Inputs from PTI, Soni Mishra
