School, colleges to remain closed in Pune till March 31, night curfew to be imposed

@varshasuman

By Varsha Torgalkar

Pune: Schools and colleges will be closed completely till March 31. Hotels and restaurants will have to shut down their shutters by 10 pm, this was disclosed to newspersons by Saurabh Rao, Divisional Commissioner of Pune. The decisions were taken after taking stock of the Covid-19 situation in Pune district at the review meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who is also the Guardian Minister of Pune District.

“The hotels and restaurants will be allowed to provide parcel/home delivery for one more hour till 11 pm. Hotels/restaurants will have to put up a board outside mentioning total seats and how many are occupied and vacant. Malls and markets will close at 10 pm. Cinema halls will be allowed to operate with 50% capacity but they will have to close by 10 pm. Roadside eateries will not be allowed to have more than five customers at any time. All clubhouses in societies will have to remain close. MPSC/UPSC coaching centres and libraries will be allowed to operate at 50% capacity”, Rao said.

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All the public gardens under Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) will be closed in the evening hours. Wedding ceremonies, funerals, and other ceremonies will have only 50 persons. If there is a violation of this rule, then FIR will be registered and premises will be sealed, he added.

The new rules will come into effect from tonight. There will be complete restriction on movement of people from 11 pm to 6 am. The administration has clarified that essential services have been exempted from curfew hours. Also, people working night shifts in offices will also be allowed to commute between home and office.

The administration has also taken the decision to request the central government to increase vaccine doses for Pune.

“Medical experts have given the opinion that the best way to reduce Corona spread is to increase the rate of vaccination. At present, about 22,500 people are being vaccinated which can be increased to one lakh per day if we get more vaccine doses and increase the vaccination centres”, he added.

The officer further informed, “Institutional Isolation Centres will be increased. Also, we are starting counselling facilities for people in home isolation. The housing societies have also been asked to ensure that patients remain indoors who have been advised home isolation. The jumbo COVID centres will be started as per requirement.”

Pune district has currently 21276 cases, as per the Public Health Department of Maharashtra.