Some clarity from Pune Municipal Corporation: Only medical and dairy shops to be open, domestic helps allowed to commute

Sticking to its decision on imposing a night curfew from 6 pm to 7 am and keeping shops selling non-essential items shut till April 30, the PMC on Friday provided clarity on the rules for weekend lockdown. The PMC has declared that all shops, except medical and dairy stores, will be shut, and that domestic help will be allowed to commute for work on the weekends. It has also allowed liquor shops to provide home delivery services on weekdays in the day.

Multiple concerns were raised over restrictions on the weekends after the state government declared a ban on public movement from 8 pm on Friday to 7 am on Monday, till April 30, to control the spread of Covid-19. Also, the BJP and traders also protested against night curfew timings in Pune as well as the shutdown of non-essential stores till April 30.

Municipal Commissioner Vikram Kumar said, “All the shops except medical and dairy stores will be shut on the weekend from Friday evening till Monday morning. Dairy shops will be allowed to operate from 6 am to 11 am.”

“Domestic help such as maids, drivers, cooks, caretakers for senior citizens and patients, medical assistants and nurses serving patients at home are allowed to commute on all days from 7 am to 10 pm,” he stated in an order, which will be applicable till April 30.

Kumar said e-commerce firms providing home delivery services were permitted to operate on all days of the week, adding, “People have been completely restricted from collecting parcels from eateries and restaurants on weekends, but they can provide home delivery services to customers through their staff or e-commerce companies.” The PMC had earlier granted permission to eateries, restaurants, and beer bars to close dine-in services and operate only for parcel service. “Students appearing for examinations and competitive tests are allowed to commute for the same along with one parent during the period, but will have to carry their admit card and should not misuse it,” the municipal commissioner said.

The PMC has already declared that shops selling non-essential items will be shut till April 30. “Liquor stores can operate only by providing home delivery services on weekdays from 7 am to 6 pm,” the order said. Also, optical stores have also been allowed to operate on weekdays from 7 am to 6 pm.

Kumar said bus services by the PMPML will be available only for essential workers on weekends. “Cab services like Ola and Uber are allowed to operate for emergency purposes,” he added.

Construction work is allowed on weekends for sites that have arrangements for their labour on site. Also, the PMC has clarified that those allowed to work during the restriction period till April 30 can carry negative rapid antigen test or RT-PCR test reports to work if they are not vaccinated. Those violating the rule will be penalised. The civic body has also instructed private companies to have mobile testing facilities at their workplace while vaccination camps would be organised if there are at least 100 beneficiaries on the campus.

Vaccination in the city will be conducted on all days so that maximum number of beneficiaries are inoculated, Kumar said.

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