■ STARTS THURSDAY 10 PM AND ENDS MONDAY 7 am ■ CM SAYS IT IS TIME TO BREAK THE CHAIN & URGES PEOPLE NOT TO GET INTO PANIC-BUYING ■ TOURISM ACTIVITY TO STOP FOR FOUR DAYS
PANAJI
After dilly-dallying for several days amid a frighteningly rising Covid surge and even by-passing his own health minister’s advice, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant finally decided on Wednesday to clamp down a total lockdown in Goa from 10 pm on Thursday to 7 am Monday morning.
Essential services including groceries, kitchens of restaurants for home delivery only and industries will remain open though, Sawant, who addressed a press conference on Wednesday, said.
Casinos and all other tourism-related enterprises and services will be shut down and also public transport.
Sawant said, the decision to impose a lockdown was taken due to the continuous surge in Covid-19 cases and urged the people not to go into a panic-buying mode.
Earlier this week on Monday when the 24-hour fatalities had hit 38 and new infections 2000-plus, Health Minister Vishwajit Rane had publicly opined and tweeted that a lockdown was imperative.
However, Rane’s opinion got overruled and Sawant had insisted after a high-level meeting at which the health minister had also attended that there will be no lockdown and instead curbs will be strictly imposed using the police force.
On Wednesday however, Sawant said: “The lockdown has been imposed in order to break the Covid-19 chain.”
He said the district magistrates will issue the formal notification elaborating the nitty-gritties of the lockdown.
He went on to add that the lockdown will be lifted on Monday, in an apparent bid to discourage people from indulging in panic buying and advised tourists already in the State to avoid intra-State travelling during the lockdown.
“Tourists should stay put where they are. They cannot travel during the lockdown. Tourism activity will stop for four days. Casinos will also be shut,” Sawant said.
Migrant workers have also been requested not to leave Goa.
“Essential services, like grocery stores, pharmacies, hotel and restaurant kitchens, industries will continue to remain open. Public transport will be stopped,” Sawant said.
Meanwhile, KTCL buses will ply on local routes as per schedule. General Manager of Kadamba Transport Corporation Ltd Sanjay Ghate informed that though lockdown is from Thursday evening, KTCL will continue to operate its buses as usual with 50 per cent passenger capacity and all Kadamba offices in the state will remain open as usual.
However, all interstate operations have been called off till Monday morning.
