Manipur extends night curfew till September 6

Our Correspondent
Imphal, Aug. 22 (EMN): The Manipur government has extended the night curfew imposed in the state from 6 pm to 5 am by another 15 days till September 6.

The state chief secretary, Dr. Rajesh Kumar who is the chairman of the state executive committee of State Disaster Management Authority issued an order in this regard on Saturday.

However social gatherings/feasts are not permitted, the order said, adding that the number of Covid-19 cases detected per day is declining albeit slowly while the hardships of the people due to continuous closure of many establishments have increased.

It said unavoidable customary and religious rituals could be performed in open sheds by restricting the number of invitees to twenty only.

Stating that micro containment zones shall be strictly monitored by dedicated Police department teams and Health department teams, it urged the DCs to involve local clubs/local bodies at specific jurisdictions.

Informing that the Covid-19 infections shall be isolated as soon as possible and brought to Covid care centres, it said, “The Health department shall scale up vaccination, contact tracing and testing by providing additional manpower, mobility support and IEC(Information Education Communication) advocacy”.

The order permitted opening of government offices, PSUs and other public utilities with all Secretariat departments, Manipur government offices and office of government of India to start functioning with e-office and physical attendance of Group A officers and 50 percent of the remaining staff from August 23 by taking adequate precaution and strictly following Covid appropriate behaviour.

It also allowed all employees and personal staff working in Information and Public Relations, Power, Fire Service, Public Health Engineering department, Consumers Affairs Food and Public Distribution, Home, Health, Relief and Disaster Management, Forest, Environment and Climate Change, Finance and Treasuries, Police, Water Resources, Agriculture and Horticulture departments and district administration to function normally.

Banking services with limited staff on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 10 am to 2:30 pm for urgent government and non-government transactions only. Hotels for lodging will be allowed to remain open with minimum staff, while restaurants will remain closed.

Imphal airport shall remain open and movement of staff and passengers will continue to be permitted, it said.