After a gap of nearly two months, public transport including autos, buses and taxis will resume in Chandigarh from Tuesday onwards with limited capacity. Along with that shops in City Centre Sector 17, Sector 34 market and shops on sector dividing roads have been allowed to open from 11 am to 6 pm.
The congested markets such as Sector 46 Rehri market, Sector 22 Shastri market, Sector 15 Patel Market, Sec 41 Krishna market, Sec 19 Sadar Bazar and Pallika Bazar, Sec 18 Gandhi market, Sec 27 Janta market is also allowed to open on an odd-even basis from 10:30 am to 6 pm.
However, the city will remain under lockdown for next two weeks and the movement of individuals will remain prohibited between 7 pm to 7 am except for essential services.
A day after the Central Government issued guidelines for lockdown 4.0 to stem the spread of Coronavirus, the Chandigarh Administration on Monday issued an order allowing a series of relaxations in the city in line with the Centre’s order. The decisions to resume public transport, start public dealings in government offices and opening of shops in all markets among others were taken during the meeting held by Punjab Governor and UT Administrator VP Singh Badnore on Monday.
All shops in internal sector markets (neighbourhood markets), which were earlier allowed to be open on odd-even basis will now be allowed to open from 10 am to 6 pm on all days except the usual weekly off day.
With 197 positive cases of coronavirus till Monday evening, the union territory of Chandigarh will continue to be in coronavirus red-zone till further orders as declared by the Central Government.
The city will continue to have six containment zones including Bapu Dham colony (BDC), part of Sector 30-B, Kacchi Colony, Dhanas, part of Shastri Nagar (Manimajra), Part of Sector 38 and Part of Sector 52, where relaxations will not be permitted and only, essential services would be allowed.
Chandigarh, which is a joint capital of Punjab and Haryana on Monday recorded six fresh positive cases from BDC, which has till now reported 128 positive cases.
Manoj Parida, Adviser to UT Administrator said that the fresh guidelines for Chandigarh have been issued in line with Central Government’s order. The city residents are requested to continue follow the mandatory practice of wearing masks at public places and maintain social distancing, he said.
The fresh guidelines issued by the UT Administration stated, “All non-AC buses will be operated in tri-city with the consent of the neighbouring states. There will be a flat rate of Rs 20 per ticket. The buses will run with 50 percent capacity only and necessary social distancing norms will be followed. Inter-state buses (outside tri-city) will also be resumed after obtaining necessary consent from the receiving states.”
“The passenger vehicles such as cars and taxies will be allowed. There will be maximum three persons in a vehicle. The auto-rickshaws are permitted to ply in the city on the condition that only one passenger is carried. The two wheelers can ply without a pillion rider. The pedal or cycle rickshaws will be allowed with only one passenger,” the order stated.
Allowing the public dealings in the government offices, the UT order said, “The public dealing offices such as Sampark Centres, RLA, Sub-Registrar office etc. shall remain open. All UT Administration offices will function from 10 am to 5:30 pm. 50 percent of the government officials below the rank of Deputy Secretary will be called to office. However, Defence and Security Services, Health and Family Welfare, Police, Prisons, Home Guards, Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Services, Disaster Management and related services, NIC, Customs, FCI, NCC, NYK and Municipal services shall function without any restrictions.”
The Central Government offices, offices of neighbouring states, banks etc. will have different office timings to avoid simultaneous travel by office-goers and congestion on roads, the order added.
On functioning of private sector, it stated “The private offices are advised to operate with 50 percent of their staff and encourage their employees to work from home.”
All malls such as Elante Mall, DLF Mall, Centra Mall and Multiplexes will continue to remain closed, including essential shops, eateries and offices located in the Malls. Salons, spa centres, swimming pools, gymnasium, community centres will also remain closed while the sports complex will be opened.
The order however mentioned that salons will remain closed till a formal standard operating procedure is finalized and announced in consultation with medical experts.
The restaurants in the city have been permitted to operate only for home delivery of cooked food. Sweet shops and Bakeries are also permitted to open from Tuesday onwards but they will not be allowed to provide any dining facility within their premises.