Pune: Vehicular movement banned in closed zones

Asseem Shaikh & Gitesh Shelke | TNN | Updated: Apr 8, 2020, 06:21 IST

Police check a commuter’s permission letter in Kondhwa

PUNE: The sealed containment zones in the central parts (Peth areas) of the city and Kondhwa would remain out of bounds for all types of vehicles, barring essential services, from 7pm on April 7 till the midnight of April 14.
Joint commissioner of police Ravindra Shisve on Tuesday issued a fresh order on Tuesday under Section 144 (1) [3] of the Code of Criminal Procedure specifying the restricted areas. The move follows Pune municipal commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad’s order on Monday sealing the Peth areas and Kondhwa to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
The order specifies that grocery shops in the containment areas would be allowed to operate only from 10am to 12noon. All banks in those areas would remain shut but ATMs would be open, the order stated.
It stated that people in the containment areas would have to follow the advisory issued by the health department regarding the preventive measures like wearing masks, hand gloves and use of sanitizers.
Earlier, Shisve told TOI that people would be allowed to step out of their homes only in case of an emergency or for fetching essential commodities from their neighbourhood shops during the two-hour window. Else, strict compliance of the lockdown orders would be ensured.
He said police would also deploy drones for monitoring the movement of people in these areas. “Social distancing is the only way to curb the spread of Covid-19 and our efforts are aimed at this direction,” he said.
Shisve said, “The containment zones have been identified by the PMC (Pune Municipal Corporation) authorities and our priority is to provide all the necessary assistance to the civic administration in enforcing the measures. People from these zones will not be allowed to move out and the outsiders won’t be allowed to enter there. People will get essential goods in their neighbourhood. The local police and the administrative officers, too, will help them.”
He said the police had been keeping a tab on the home quarantined people (about 1,400) on a daily basis by using a selfie software, wherein the home quarantined people are required to upload their selfies twice a day on their smartphone application.