With new restrictions coming into force across the State, the Nilgiris district administration has announced that people from Gudalur and Pandalur taluks requiring urgent medical treatment will be allowed to travel to neighbouring Kerala and Karnataka in case of emergencies.
The district administration, in a press release, said that patients will be allowed to cross the State borders provided they get permits from the government zonal medical officer.
Patients from the two taluks travel to Sultan Bathery in Kerala or to Chamrajanagar in Karnataka for treatment as the two taluks are closer to Gudalur and Pandalur than neighbouring Coimbatore.
Patients who are undergoing continuous treatment such as dialysis can continue to travel to the neighbouring States provided they have the relevant permits.
The district administration has also announced that markets in the four major towns in the Nilgiris — Udhagamandalam, Coonoor, Kotagiri and Gudalur — will be shifted to temporary open-air locations where the risk of transmission of COVID-19 is lesser.
In Udhagamandalam, the market will be shifted to the school grounds in the ATC Junction, the Ooty bus stand and to the NCMS parking lot in Udhagamandalam. The Coonoor Market will be shifted to the Coonoor bus stand, the market in Kotagiri to the Gandhi Maidan, the Gudalur Market to the Saint Joseph School grounds and the Gudalur farmers’ market to the Gandhi Thidal.
Tea estates and factories will also be allowed to function, with the management asked to provide transport to workers with the permission of local Tahsildars.