Administrative heads of departments/heads of departments/heads of offices shall form a core group of officers/staff in their respective departments to attend to urgent and essential matters including court cases who shall attend office, said the new notification.
By Imna Longchar, Nagaland Special Correspondent
With more reports of covid-19 positive detected on a daily basis from across Nagaland especially from the commercial hub of the state, Dimapur, and the State Capital, Kohima, the Nagaland State government, through a notification has now imposed more strict restrictions in identified containment zones.
Stating that earlier on April 29, consolidated guidelines to prevent and combat the surge of Covid-19 were issued, and whereas, there is a further increase in the number of persons infected by COVID-19 and positivity rate in the state during the last week, Nagaland Chief Secretary, J Alam, through an official communiqué also added that in the interest of public health and safety, and with a view to contain and prevent the spread of COVID-19, in exercise of the powers conferred Section 22 (2) (b) and Section 22 (2) (h) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, in the capacity of Chairperson, State Executive Committee has notified as Containment Zones the following areas: Dimapur Municipal Council (DMC), Chumukedima Town Council (CTC) and Colonies/villages along Dimapur Chumukedima 4-lane road, while in Kohima, Kohima Municipal Council (KMC) and New Capital Complex, from May 5 starting 7 pm.
It said that all activities including movements of persons, goods vehicles including vehicles carrying oxygen/ oxygen cylinders and other medical equipment, all healthcare facilities including animal healthcare, hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and movement of healthcare workers, all pharmacies, including those selling veterinary medicines, all persons going for COVID-19 vaccination, COVID testing
and medical emergencies, all officers and staff working in District Administration, Police, Security forces, Fire & Emergency services, Home Department, Medical, Postal services, NIC, NSDMA, Home Guards & Civil Defence, SDRF, Power, PHED, Food & Civil supplies, Finance, Treasury and Accounts, Banks/ ATMs, IT & C, IPR, AIR and Doordarshan, Construction activities, Agri and allied activities, funeral services, limited to not more than 20 persons.
All vegetable, fish/meat vendors, milk booths may remain open from 6 AM to 2 PM, all local grocery stores including animal feed shops for public purchase may remain open from 6 AM to 2 PM, petrol pumps shall remain open as usual, while ensuring there is no crowding, all establishments and personnel relating to electronic and print media, telecom/internet service providers, Dimapur Airport shall remain open and movement of staff and passengers will be permitted, hotels for lodging shall be allowed to remain open with minimum staff, restaurants shall remain closed for in-house dining, however, the restaurants may, cater through take-away or home delivery, food delivery service providers and groceries delivery service providers and small, stand-alone shops in colonies subject to regulation by the respective ward/colony authority.
Movement of all private passenger vehicles shall be allowed to ply on ‘odd-even” system, with an occupancy of 50%. Public transport vehicles (both public and private) like buses, taxis, autos two- wheeler taxis etc. shall be allowed to ply with occupancy of 50%, with a maximum limit of 25% of such vehicles in the district, for which the District Task Force of the respective district shall lay down modalities.
Except, the above mentioned permitted activities, all others shall be suspended in the said areas during the period.
The communiqué also stated that the Administrative Heads of Departments/ Heads of Departments/ Heads of Offices shall form a core group of officers/ staff in their respective departments to attend to urgent and essential matters including court cases who shall attend office. All other Government employees should be available on call.
The districts/blocks/areas other than those mentioned in paragraph 3 of this order will continue to be covered under the guidelines issued as per the order NO. NSDMA-ER-COV1D19- 301/2020(Part-II) dated 29th April 2021, and they may decide the restrictive measures in their respective containment zones as and when needed. The respective District Task Forces may continue with the ‘Night Curfew’ and other restrictions in their respective jurisdictions, over above the restrictions contained in this Order.
The allowed activities, as listed in paragraph 3 above, shall be carried out in strict compliance with the COVID appropriate behavior. Strict enforcement of these restrictions shall be ensured by the respective District Task Forces.
Strict checking shall be done by the District Task Forces at the district entry points to prevent non-essential movement of persons.
In addition to the activities banned as per the order NO.NSDMA-ER-COVID19- 301/2020(Part-II), dated 29th April 2021 all places of mass gathering to be closed including religious places, except for solemnization of weddings with prior permission of the Deputy Commissioner, across the state.
Any person/group of persons acting in violation of this order shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code.