Essential services to operate in 80 districts of 22 states, UTs

New Delhi, March 22 (IANS) Delhi’s seven districts along with Srinagar and Jammu among the 80 districts across 22 states and Union Territories in India where only essential services will be allowed in the backdrop of spread of COVID-19 cases.
All state governments are set to issue orders allowing only essential services in these districts very soon. Three districts in Andhra Pradesh; Chandigarh; Raipur in Chhattisgarh; seven in Delhi; six in Gujarat; five in Haryana; Kangra in Himachal Pradesh, Afive in Karnataka, 10 in Kerala, Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh, 10 in Maharashtra, Khurda in Odisha, Mahe in Puducherry, three in Punjab, four in Rajasthan, three in Tamil Nadu, five in Telangana, six in Uttar Pradesh, Dehradun in Uttarakhand, and Kolkata and North 24 Parganas are under the restrictions.
Srinagar, Jammu in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir; and Kargil and Leh in Union Territory of Ladakh are among the list of UTs where the restriction will be imposed.
It was decided at a meeting here on Sunday morning with Chief Secretaries of all states by the Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba and the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister P.K. Misra.
Following detailed discussions, the Cabinet note said the state governments were advised to issue appropriate orders to allow only essential services to in the 75 districts which have reported confirmed cases or casualties relating to COVID 19.
“The state governments may expand the list depending on their assessment of the situation. It was noted that several state governments have already issued orders in this regard.”
The chief secretaries said that there is overwhelming and spontaneous response to the call for ‘Janata curfew’ given by the Prime Minister on Thursday.As many as 13,049 people have lost their lives across the globe and the deadly virus has affected 3.7 lakh people.
The number of coronavirus-affected people in India reached 324 on Sunday with reports of six deaths. In view of the need to contain the spread of COVID 19, it was agreed that there is an urgent need to extend the restrictions on the movement of non-essential passenger transport including inter-state transport buses till March 31, 2020, a Cabinet note said.
Besides, some important decisions were taken in the meeting that includes suspension of all train services till March 31, including suburban rail services. However, goods trains are exempted.Inter state passenger transport will also be suspended till March 31.

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