Coronavirus: Telangana under lockdown

Hyderabad: As a 24-hour voluntary curfew on Sunday across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh brought life to a standstill, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has announced that entire state would be under lock down till March 31 to contain coronavirus and urged the people to remain in their homes till further notice. “During the period only one person from a family will be allowed to venture out for medicine, milk and other essential commodities”, he told a media conference.

The notification imposing the lock down was issued invoking special powers under Diseases Act 1897, he said.

For the daily wages earner he said government will provide 12 kgs rice and other commodities free of cost.

With hardly anybody coming out on Sunday and all vehicles off the roads normally busy roads and bazars wore a deserted look.

In Hyderabad police had set barricades on important junctions and counselled those violating the curfew.

At some places police imparted a novel punishment to the violators by making them stand with placards of “I support Janata Curfew”.

However in a major violation of the restrictions, privately owned Sirpur Paper Mills in Kaghaznagar district made about 2,000 workers to attend the work without any protective measures.

When asked about the reason for keeping the mills open on a day when everything else was shut, an official said that they had taken the clearance from higher government authorities.

In a video viral on social media the workers were seen entering the factory without any mask or any other protective gear.

In neighboring Andhra Pradesh where one more person tested positive for Corona virus, Chief Minister was planning to extend the curfew for two more days, officials said.