To sync with Centre’s decision to enforce lockdown till May 31, the Telangana government on Monday extended the same by two days from May 29 and opened up shops and establishments all over the State, except Hyderabad, from Tuesday morning. The night curfew in the State from 7 p.m. will remain.
Shops will be opened on alternate days in Hyderabad as per a schedule to be drawn up by the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner.
Except Hyderabad, the Road Transport Corporation will ply buses all over the State but will not cross inter-State borders. Buses from neighbouring States will be allowed into the city but terminate only at Jubilee bus station and not Imlibun station which will remain closed. The buses will follow COVID-19 restrictions like mandating crew and passengers to wear masks and sanitising the fleet, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao told a post-Cabinet media briefing.
He said transportation within Hyderabad will be restricted to autorickshaws, cars and cabs. While only the driver and two passengers will be allowed in autorickshaws, an additional passengers will be permitted in cars and cabs. The Metro rail services, however, will continue to remain suspended.
Hair cutting salons will open in Hyderabad as elsewhere in the State. All government and private offices, industries, factories, manufacturing units and e-commerce businesses will function throughout the State.
The places that will remain closed in the State include places of worship, function halls, malls, cinema halls, educational institutions, bars, pubs, clubs, stadia, grounds, swimming pools, gyms, parks and amusement parks.
He warned shopkeepers to ensure that their salesmen and customers followed physical distance norms and wore masks, otherwise a penalty of ₹ 1,000 will be levied on them. He also warned people not to take the freedom granted to go on roads for granted.
Answering a question on SSC exams which were suspended after three papers, he said it will depend on court judgment.
Mr. Rao said the restrictions in containment zones will be enforced strictly by continuing to barricade them. There were 1,452 families in these zones which will get door-delivery of essential commodities and medicines. The people living in them, houses and apartments will be completely isolated from the outside world. The government had decided that life in the State must coexist with coronavirus as there was no possibility of discovery of vaccine in the near future.