Ghaziabad: After Noida, now Ghaziabad will see the unlocking process as coronavirus cases are on a declining trend in the district. Moreover, there has been a constant demand from the traders and local residents to unlock the district. The Ghaziabad administration on Thursday held a meeting with RWAs and traders’ associations over gradual opening of commercial establishments in the city as active cases were expected to soon go below 600.
Speaking to Times of India, district magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said that when the active cases are below 600, business and other activities will be allowed to open in Ghaziabad with certain restrictions in compliance with the state government’s directives. He also added that the traders have been asked to implement the ‘no mask no deal’ at all commercial establishments.
Giving further details about the unlock plans, the district magistrate said that as far as the residential colonies and housing societies are concerned, volunteers will be appointed by the RWAs and they will ensure the residents follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. However, for the repeat violations, they will send a list of such people to the administration and the residents will be issued challans subsequently.
The traders across the Ghaziabad district have been demanding the closing time of shops to be extended by an hour from 7 PM currently.
As the number of coronavirus cases coming down gradually and the UP government is lifting the lockdown in many districts on weekdays, the Ghaziabad residents, too, had been demanding relaxations. Ghaziabad, which had 1,688 active cases on May 31, registered 727 active cases on Thursday.
On June 2, one person succumbed to coronavirus in Ghaziabad, while no new death linked to COVID-19 was reported in adjoining Gautam Buddh Nagar for second day in a row. With this, the death toll in Ghaziabad escalated to 446, while it stood at 450 in Gautam Buddh Nagar, according to the state’s Health Department data.
Gautam Buddh Nagar recorded 79 new cases that pushed its overall tally to 62,424 with 843 active cases, while 183 patients recovered from the infection.
Ghaziabad’s overall tally surged to 55,099 with 49 new cases, while it had 983 active cases and 90 patients recovered during the 24-hour period.