Covid-19: TN govt announces further curbs on public movement

Chennai, Apr 4 () The Tamil Nadu government onSaturday announced further curbs on public movement as part ofits fight against COVID-19, revising the business hours ofshops selling essential commodities.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami appealed against givingcommunal colour to the spread of the contagion and requestedpeople to avoid religious congregations and strictly maintainsocial distancing.

The government's curbs relating to shops remainingopen came a day after Palaniswami warned of tightening theongoing lockdown as many were not following the prohibitoryorders clamped to implement it.

"To further curtail public movement, the time allowedfor them (people) to buy essential items is being revised from6 am to 1 pm and this would come into effect from April 5(Sunday)," he said in a statement.

Presently, shops selling essential items are allowedto transact business from 6 am to 2 pm.

The chief minister urged all sections of people tostrictly abide by the new regulation and warned of "stringentlegal action" against those violating the government diktat.

On Friday, the chief minister had lamented that peoplehad a "casual" attitude over following the lockdown even asthe government had imposed Section 144 of Cr.Pc, which barsthe assembly of over five persons, to implement it.

"Some don't pay heed to the repeated requests.Henceforth law has to do its duty. The government is givingbest cooperation to public. If people fail to utilise itproperly, then the government has no other way other than totighten the restrictions," the CM had said.

He has all along been insisting on social distancingto effectively stem the spread of coronavirus.

The chief minister said top state government officialshad a meeting with representatives of various faiths onFriday where the stress was laid on social distancing andisolation.

Based on the interaction, the government has takenvarious decisions including prevention of public gathering ofpeople during festivals and that religious meetings should beavoided, he said.

Further, coronavirus would infect humans irrespectiveof caste and religion and could affect anyone, he said.

"People should avoid giving communal colour to this(virus) and should not show hatred to those affected by it,"he said.

Palaniswami's appeal came at a time when NizamuddinWest in Delhi has emerged as an epicentre for the spreadof coronavirus in different parts of the country afterthousands of people took part in an Islamic congregationorganised by Tablighi Jamaat from March 1-15 and returned totheir states.

The virus-affected persons should be shown love andcompassion, the chief minister added.

Further, upon the community leaders' requests, schoolscolleges and other buildings under their control can beequipped with necessary infrastructure to be used as isolationfacilities, Palaniswami said. SA SS