Andhra Pradesh DGP Damodar Gautam Sawang today urged the people of the state to keep themselves safe through the ongoing pandemic by following all the required Covid-19 safety and prevention guidelines.
He made these remarks while speaking to the media after conducting a surprise inspection of various areas of Vijayawada city. During the visit, he also observed the arrangements made for the enforcement of the state's
current curfew.
Talking about the curfew, the DGP said, "All the people must wear two face masks. They should also regularly sanitise their hands. In order to defeat Covid 19, all of us have to follow every safety norm prescribed by the state government, the Centre and the ICMR. It is important that people realise that their negligence endangers not just them but many others around them as well. As a result, anybody found to be violating the safety rules will face stringent action."
Sawang also revealed that the state administration had decided to reintroduce the e-pass system for all those needing to travel on an emergency basis from Monday (tomorrow), and had issued orders to ban any meetings organised by the political parties of the state as well as other large congregations.
"Section 144 will be imposed in AP till further notice. All those wishing to organise events like weddings will need to take the permission of local authorities before doing so. Since all the required measures to curb the further spread of Covid-19 are being taken, there is no need to panic. I would urge the public not to believe in all the false news being circulated on social media. Even those under home isolation need not panic. They can utilise the 108 and 104 emergency services," he added.
With the objective of managing the pandemic in AP, the state government had recently decided to impose a day curfew from May 5 for two weeks.
During this period, commercial establishments are operating from 6:00 am to 12:00 pm every day. All emergency and essential services however have been exempted from the following these timings. Section 144 of the Indian Penal Code is imposed across AP during the curfew hours.
As part of this partial lockdown, the state's authorities have also
sealed its borders with Telangana between 12 noon and 6:00 am every day, till May 18.