Telugu States To Ease Lockdown Restrictions

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao today stated that he was willing to lift the current lockdown that had been enforced on May 12, and ease the restrictions being implemented in the wake of the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic so that people of the state could slowly start returning to their normal routines. Currently, the date for the lifting of lockdown restrictions is June 19. However, the government is yet to formally announce the same.

At a review meeting on the status of the pandemic in the state, which was held at the Pragathi Bhavan, the CM discussed at length the matter of the continuation of the lockdown, the status of the vaccination drive, and the measures being implemented to control the spread of Covid-19 with several ministers and officials.

KCR reportedly stated explicitly that he was not in favour of the lockdown from the get-go as the previous one had caused huge revenue losses to the state and deprived people of income and livelihoods. In this background, he is keen to lift the restrictions especially since the number of reported Covid-19 cases and deaths have been recording drops each day.

"An extension of the lockdown will lead to further losses to the government financially, and will exacerbate the livelihood issues of the people of the state," he asserted.

Agreeing with the points made by the CM, the ministers and officials present at the meeting said that they would support whatever call he chose to take on the matter.

The government is then likely to announce the end of the lockdown as scheduled. Alternatively, sources suggest that if the lockdown is not lifted completely, the current restrictions will be greatly eased and a night curfew, from 9:00 pm to 6:00 am, may be implemented from June 20 instead.

Meanwhile, amid talks of a third wave, both the government and the health officials of the state are readying themselves to tackle the same. At the meeting, KCR instructed the concerned officials to get ready to deal with the possible third wave, and asked them to continue the vaccination drive in the state. He reportedly also told them to acquire adequate stocks of vaccines from the Centre and immunise the eligible persons in a timely manner.

With cases falling in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh too, the government today relaxed the state's ongoing curfew. The decision was taken during a review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy with the relevant officials.

The government extended the current relaxation period of the curfew by four hours, from the existing 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm every day. These revised timings will come into effect from June 21.

With this, the relaxation period will now be enforced from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm daily, while the curfew will be in force from 6:00 pm to 6:00 am.

However, commercial establishments and other shops will still be required to down their shutters at 5:00 pm. Further, the AP government did not relax the curfew timings in East Godavari district, keeping in mind the high number of Covid-19 cases being reported from the region.