Covid triggers J&K night curfew, other curbs

After a series of high-level meetings, it was decided that lockdown was not an option at present.

After a series of high-level meetings by the J&K administration and consultations at the highest level, it was decided that lockdown was not an option in the present circumstances, but ban could be imposed on social gatherings in Jammu and Kashmir.

A senior official told this newspaper that the administration would be very serious about testing of all travellers entering Jammu and Kashmir and now, even if they come by road, they would be tested at multiple places before being allowed to enter.

“Social gatherings may not be allowed after the ground report and all private tuition centers would be told to shut if they do not adhere to the Covid norms,” said a senior official on the condition of anonymity.

Taking the lead about the night curfew, the government has directed the divisional administration to impose a night curfew from 10 pm to 6 am in the urban areas of the eight districts, including five districts of Kashmir affected by the Covid-19 infection. While this night curfew may hamper night prayers during the coming month of Ramzan in the mosques of Kashmir, people here have questioned the wisdom of the government, saying that otherwise also, there is no night life as such in Kashmir valley.

Lt. Governor Manoj Sinha tweeted about the night curfew and said that it would remain in force in the districts “Jammu, Udhampur, Kathua, Srinagar, Baramulla, Budgam, Anantnag and Kupwara”.

Political parties, civil society members and the doctors’ association of Kashmir have appealed to Lt. Governor Sinha to monitor RTPCR tests of travellers and regulate the rush in the gardens of Kashmir, especially in the Tulip garden where thousands of people are entering on a daily basis, including locals and tourists.

Hotels have been directed in Kashmir to keep some rooms as quarantine centers for tourists who test positive, while refusing to give any quarantine facility to the travellers in Kashmir valley. Now, the administration has decided to go for mass vaccination of hotel staff across Kashmir Valley.

Deputy Commissioner of Srinagar Mohammad Aijaz Asad told the media that they are going for the vaccination of all the frontline workers in the hotels’ houseboats and people connected with the tourist trade due to the spike in Covid infection.

In a recent meeting with the J&K administration, representatives of the tourism industry had asked for separate hotel accommodation for the isolation of infected tourists, permission to tourists to the valley only after checking their RTPCR test reports, improvement in the testing facility at the airport, and sanitation of hotels, as at present, there are dozens of Covid positive tourists residing in these hotels.