Weekend lockdown, night curfew to stay in cities till Sept-end

CHANDIGARH: Amid spiraling cases of coronavirus, Punjab chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday announced to continue with the restrictions in urban areas, including weekend lockdown in all 167 municipal towns and night curfew in all cities till the end of September.

The decision has been taken in due consultation with the Centre, as required by Unlock 4.0 guidelines issued by the Union home ministry, said an official spokesperson.

Section 144 of the CrPC banning all social, political, religious gatherings, protests and demonstrations will continue, while gatherings relating to marriage and funerals shall be allowed for 30 and 20 persons.

There will be total curfew on Saturdays and Sundays in the municipal states, while movement of individuals for all nonessential activities shall remain prohibited between 7pm to 5am within municipal limits of all the cities throughout the week.

Movement of students and others in connection with all kinds of examinations, admission/entrance tests conducted by universities, boards, public service commissions and other institutions has been excluded from the restrictions.

Religious places have also been allowed to stay open on all days up to 6.30pm, as have been restaurants (including those in malls) and liquor vends. The restrictions on day/time do not apply to hotels. Essential activities and services, movement of persons and goods on national and state highways, inter and intra-state movement of persons and unloading of cargo and travel of persons to destinations after disembarking from buses, trains and planes will be permitted during restrictions.