KOCHI: Kochi city police and Ernakulam rural police on Saturday faced a tough time convincing people to stay indoors on Saturday to enforce the 48-hour lockdown-like curbs imposed by state government in the wake of an unprecedented rise in Covid-19 cases in the state. Police have decided to take tough action, including impounding vehicles of people who travel without valid reasons on Sunday.
Police officers on field duty said that while most of the people cooperated with the police by staying indoors, considerable number of people came out onto the streets with flimsy reasons despite strict direction to stay indoors and avoid unnecessary outing.
In many places, police were seen warning people and sending them back to their homes. Police officers said strict checking would continue on Sunday and legal action will be taken against those who come out onto the streets flouting rules. Though there was a heavy flow of vehicles on national highway in the morning, the number of vehicles gradually declined by noon with police intensifying checks. Kochi City Police Commissioner Nagaraju Chakilam said there was a rush of vehicles between 10 am and 11 am, but it declined by noon.
At Kadavanthra, police had to intervene after a group of migrant labourers gathered in the street in the morning. They were warned and sent back to their camps. At Perumbavoor, which has the highest migrant labour population in the district, a heavy police force was deployed to prevent any gathering by labourers. Ernakulam rural police chief K Karthick said that majority of people cooperated with the police by staying indoors and only a few incidents of violations were reported.
“Only essential services and emergency activities were allowed. Intense vehicle checking was on since early morning on Saturday and it will continue on Sunday also. While strictly enforcing the rules, we also ensured that the livelihood of people are not affected. Only those activities that could be postponed to some other day were censured on Saturday,” he said.
In rural areas, fine challans were issued to 3,867 persons for violating Covid safety guidelines on Saturday. Police also strengthened checking in containment zones to prevent unnecessary outings of people from the zones. Only those working in essential service sector and those with mandatory self-declarations were allowed to move ahead at check points. Though KSRTC buses operated services, the number of passengers was very less. Shops selling provisions, vegetables, fruits, and meat also functioned.