AHMEDABAD/SURAT: Hours after the Gujarat high court on Tuesday recommended imposing three to four days of lockdown in the wake of Covid-19 surge situation “going out of control”, the state government effected an extended night curfew across 20 cities. The curfew will be imposed from 8pm to 6am from Wednesday night.
Instead of four major cities of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot, night curfew will also be imposed in Jamnagar, Bhavnagar, Junagadh, Anand, Nadiad, Mehsana, Morbi, Patan, Dahod, Amreli, Godhra, Gandhidham, Bhuj, Bharuch and Surendranagar, among others.
CM Vijay Rupani, after discussing the HC recommendations in the high-level core committee meeting, announced that the government has decided to give permission to only 100 guests for weddings. No permission will be granted for any social and political meetings except for events in Gandhinagar and Morva Hadaf where local polls and byelections are due. The state also decided that goverment offices will remain closed on all Saturdays and Sundays for the month of April.
The measures were announced after Gujarat virtually stared at a lockdown when the Gujarat high court directed the state government to impose three to four days of lockdown or weekend lockdown to curb Covid-19 surge that has breached 3,000 cases-mark for past six days. On Tuesday, the state recorded yet another record high of 3,280 cases in 24 hours and reported 17 deaths, the highest toll during the current surge.
The HC's advice to the state government sent people across major cities thronging major grocery marts to stock up on essentials in wake of an impending shutdown.
During an online hearing, a bench of Chief Justice Vikram Nath and Justice B D Karia said a lockdown or curfew for 3 to 4 days is needed. “You may please convey our concern to the decision makers that urgent and serious steps need to be taken to check this. Otherwise, the Covid-19 situation will go out of control. May be three-four days of curfew or lockdown can be imposed to check the situation at the moment,” Chief Justice Nath told advocate general Kamal Trivedi who was summoned along with government pleader Manisha Shah by the court.
The CJ said that Gujarat has got more than 3,000 cases and the city of Ahmedabad has over 700 cases. “Things are going from bad to worse,” he said and added that there is a shortage of beds in hospitals.
The night curfew imposed from between 9pm and 6am in four major cities of Gujarat was not proving to be effective, according to Chief Justice Nath.
Earlier, during the discussion, the advocate general told the court that lockdown was suggested during a Covid-19 review meeting two days ago. “Lockdown comes with miseries for the poor. The government is in a catch-22 situation,” the AG said seeking guidance from the court.
The court also told the government officers to immediately impose curbs on large gatherings and put a cap of 25-50 persons for funerals and marriages. There should also not be political gatherings of large scale. The government assured the court that this suggestion would be immediately implemented.