Odisha in Battle Mode: Naveen Announces Near Complete Lockdown in Five Districts And Eight Towns to Keep COVID-19 at Bay

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today took an extraordinary step to knockdown the highly contagious Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the State.

Naveen announced a lock down 40 per cent of Odisha including the state capital for a week starting from tomorrow.

It includes 5 district and 8 major towns, such as Khurdha, Cuttack, Ganjam, Kendrapada, Angul, the towns of Puri, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Jharsuguda ,Balasore, Jajpur road and Jajpur town, Bhadrak.

“In the first phase, we are going for a near complete lockdown in all these areas from 7 A.M. tomorrow till 9pm of March 29”, the CM announced.

Announcing the move, Naveen said, “Time has come for us to take the extraordinary step and sacrifice, to protect our State and our people”.

“I humbly request you to stay at home and come out only for basic services”, he said.

The CM said, “Let us take care of people who have worked for us for long years and pay them their wages for this time even though we have to discontinue their services temporarily”.

“These are extraordinary times, we all have to pitch in . The police cannot enforce this everywhere. We have to see it as our Responsibility to protect our lives”, the CM added.

He said, “It is the duty of the community, specifically Sarpanches and elected representatives and other community leaders to keep a close watch and monitor this lockdown 4.5 crore people of Odisha are my family and I am concerned about the well being of each one of you”.

He said, “In the last 60 days the world has changed. We thought the change is happening in far away places like China, South Korea but it has reached India now. In the last 15 days, the most powerful countries of the World – U.S., U.K., many in Europe have been severely affected. The case numbers are rising in India. We have a very small window to take pre-emptive action. There is no cure for this virus”.

“The only cure is prevention. It is only if you go out of your home that you may bring the virus to your home and your neighborhood. Only through this strategy, China and some countries have reversed the trend”.

“Infact, Wuhan which is the nerve centre has no more infections today. Their hospitals are free. They made people stay at home and come out only for essential services”, the CM added.

In the five districts and the eight towns all distribution of benefits such as Pension and PDS are postponed for the time being. District Collectors are empowered to add or delete any sector /service to this list based on local assessment.

Hospitals, clinics, medical shops, grocery shops, restaurants (only takeaways and home deliveries) vegetables, meat and milk shops/bread and bakery (but selling of tea and other beverages in the same premises have to be closed), Railways, Bus stands Airports will be open as also Public Transport .Administration, Police ,Health, Fire, ODRAF, Electricity, Water, Municipal Services, Banks, ATMs ,Petrol pumps shall remain open alongwith private establishments that support the above services or are linked to the fight against coronavirus.

Private companies will be advised to encourage work from home. In case they cannot do so and need to continue they  need to get a certificate from the concerned Collector to continue. All service providers ,including private sector engaged in COVID-19 will be declared as Emergency Workers.