SAMBALPUR/ROURKELA/BALANGIR: Shops, offices and business establishments remained closed while vehicular movement came to a grinding halt on the first day of the
weekend shutdown imposed to break the chain of
Covid cases across towns in 10 districts near Chhattisgarh on Saturday.
Two major cities of Sambalpur and Rourkela were among those shut as only people associated with essential and emergency services were allowed to move on the roads in Sundargarh, Jharsuguda, Sambalpur, Bargarh, Balangir, Nuapada, Kalahandi, Nabarangpur,
Koraput and Malkangiri districts.
Massive police force was deployed in Sambalpur and Rourkela to enforce the shutdown. Police personnel were seen checking the pass and identity cards of people on the roads. Fearful of the rising infections, people voluntarily complied with the shutdown by staying indoors. “This was sorely needed,” said Sanjeeb Mishra, a doctor at VSS Institute of Medical Sciences, Sambalpur.
Around six platoons of police were deployed in Sambalpur to enforce the lockdown. The police forces were conducting checking at 18 different places in Sambalpur, said additional superintendent of police (
ASP), Amaresh Panda.
In Steel City, police have made check points at 30 locations and sealed all entry points to the city, said M P Karua, additional SP, Rourkela. The
Rourkela Municipal Corporation (
RMC) on Saturday declared another micro containment zone, adding to the two already declared so on Friday. The Sundargarh district administration has made it mandatory for anyone coming to the district to register themselves at BPUT centre, following which they have to go for 14 days quarantine.
Passengers who reached Balangir early in the morning faced a harrowing time reaching their destination as private buses did not operate. “I reached Balangir from Bhubaneswar by a night bus. But there is no connecting bus to Titlagarh due to the shutdown,” said Pramod Sahu, a native of Haldi village under Titilagarh police station.
In Bargarh, the shutdown was imposed in Bargarh town, Padampur, Attabira, Bijepur and Barparli. In Jharsugua district, Brajarajnagar, Belpahar in Jharsuguda towns remained shut though industrial activities and construction works were not disturbed.
In rural parts of these 10 districts, night curfew started at 6 pm from Saturday. While Covid cases in these 10 districts are rising faster than in other parts of the state, Sundargarh, Sambalpur and Nuapada districts are in the red zone, with more than 1,000 active cases each.