Uttar Pradesh Additional Chief Secretary Avnish Awasthi on Thursday announced that no public, religious and social events will be held in the state till September 30, in view of the increasing number of coronavirus cases. He further added that till September 30, permissions for the same will not be allowed.
However, the Yogi Adityanath government has ruled out the possibility of another round of complete lockdown in Uttar Pradesh. Additional Chief Secretary in a message said, "In social media, false reports of proposed lockdown are being circulated. Please ignore."
The state presently has a two-day weekend lockdown which is likely to continue next month also.
Speculation of a lockdown in the state gathered momentum after the Allahabad High Court, on Tuesday, said that "the best choice today is to close down things for a while, though selectively, to force people to confine themselves to their homes".
The judges observed, "When we have to balance between bread and butter and life, the latter has to prevail. Food is for life to survive and not vice-versa. We do not think that a lockdown for a fortnight would bring the economy of the state to such a halt that people would die of hunger."
Taking note of the increasing cases of coronavirus in the state, the Court also directed the Chief Secretary to inform if there was any plan of action to contain the virus when the economy was reopened after the nationwide lockdown and whether it was ever implemented.
The court asked the Chief Secretary if any action had been taken against the district authorities who had not followed the plan, if there was any. The Chief Secretary has also been asked to come up with a roadmap to contain the virus from now onwards by the next date of hearing.
Lastly, the court observed, "Putting people to challan/fine and then letting them go and the insufficient police force to do round-the-clock patrolling in lanes and bylanes in the districts not only consumes public measure and machinery but minimal results are being achieved."
The High Court during several hearings had issued various directions to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus in the state. The court has fixed August 28 as the next date of hearing in the matter.
(With inputs from IANS)
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