Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government Tuesday decided to impose a weekend curfew from Friday evening to Monday morning in the entire state. This has been done till further orders amid the rising cases of coronavirus infections. It comes amid the Supreme Court staying the Allahabad High Court order which said that the UP government should enforce strict restrictions in five cities of the state.
The decision to order nearly 60-hour long weekend curfew was taken in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. It was also decided to keep all non-essential activities suspended in all districts of the state having 500 or more active cases. It also decided to continue with the night-long curfew on weekdays throughout Uttar Pradesh, a senior official said.
“Throughout the state, there will be night curfew henceforth. Throughout UP, the corona curfew will be enforced from Friday evening to Monday morning,” Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi said.
The move by the UP Government comes hours after the Supreme Court Tuesday stayed an Allahabad High Court order asking the state government to impose strict restrictions till April 26 in five cities amid the surge in Covid-19 cases.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde passed the order after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, told it that the state government has taken several steps to contain the spread of coronavirus but to ‘lockdown five cities by a judicial order may not be the right approach’.
On the issue of migrants coming back to the state from Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Delhi, Adityanath said the bordering districts of UP must exercise special caution. He asserted that provisions should be made for smooth movement of the migrant workers.
The UP Home Department and the Transport department should co-ordinate and act, Adityanath said. He added that adequate facilities should be made for testing and treatment of the migrant labourers.