HYDERABAD: After the Ministry of Home Affairs issued its exit plan from the Covid-19-induced lockdown, Telangana government on Sunday announced its strategy, by relaxing some more curbs till June 7 outside the containment zones. The lockdown orders in containment zones, however, will continue to be in force till June 30 without any relaxations.
Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, after going though the Centre’s exit plan and taking stock of the situation in the State with Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar, Director General of Police M Mahender Reddy and other officials, decided that the lockdown with relaxations should continue till June 7 in non-containment areas.
The Chief Minister may take a call on what should be the way forward after assessing the situation once again before the expiry of the deadline on June 7. Accordingly, in areas outside the containment zones, the curfew timings would be between 9 pm and 5 am, as against 7 pm and 7 am in force till now, with immediate effect. This relaxation comes as relief to the people as they would not have to hurry home before the fall of dusk. The shop owners would have to down shutters by 8 pm, which will be of some help to them as they would be able to do a little more business now.
Inter-state travel allowed
The GO issued by Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to this effect later said that during restricted hours, no one would be allowed to come out of their houses, except those who have to access emergency medical care. During this period no shops or establishments, except hospitals and pharmacies, would be allowed to remain open.
Another relaxation was that with immediate effect there will be no restriction on inter-state movement of persons. No separate permission is required for one to travel into or out of Telangana. This would be a major relaxation since many people are still stranded in Telangana, mainly in Hyderabad, who have applied for transit passes from the police department to move to their home states.
What stays & what doesn’t
