Following heavy surge in COVID-19 positive cases coupled with high numbers of casualties due to COVID-19 infection, 18 district administrations, including capital Raipur have clamped night curfew.

 

District administrations of Raipur, Durg, Bilaspur, Rajnandgaon, Surguja, Raigarh, Balodabazaar, Balod, Korba, Mahasamund, Surajpur, Jashpur, Dhamtari, Dantewada, Kondagaon, Mungeli, Koriya and Sukma have clamped night curfew in their respective districts.

 

With the second spike of COVID-19 pandemic, the administrative stringency commenced with the conclusion of Holi celebrations. The night curfew orders were issued by the respective District Collectors as the state reported 29 COVID-19 deaths and 3,108 fresh positive cases on Tuesday. Accordingly, all commercial installations will be closed down at 9pm barring hotels and restaurants which can run till 10 pm. In case of violation of one or more of these strictures by any commercial installation, such shops or installations will be sealed for a period of 15 days. Every person/installation found violating these norms will be penalised under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code 1860, and Section 51 to 60 of the Disaster Management Act 2005 and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Control Act 1897.

As per the order issued by the Raipur Collector and Collectors of other districts where night curfew was clamped, keeping in view the heavy surge in COVID-19 positive cases, the previous relaxations allowed by Government were reviewed and accordingly Section 144 under CrPC, was imposed in Raipur and other districts on March 24, 2021.

Now, in compliance with the provisions laid under Section 144, Criminal Procedure Code, the timings of all commercial installations coming under all urban bodies and municipal corporation areas are being changed. Accordingly, all kinds of permanent and temporary shops will remain open from 6am till 9 pm. Similarly, all restaurants, hotels and dhabas can operate till 10 pm for indoor dining and after that till 11.30pm can provide parcels on take-away and home-delivery basis.

 

Petrol pumps and pharmaceutical shops have been kept out of purview of this night curfew and they will continue to operate as earlier. Managements of all shops and commercial installations have been asked to display opening and closing timings at the entrance/outside of their respective installations. It is mandatory for all businessmen, traders, employees and customers to comply with COVID-19 guidelines, including wearing masks and maintaining social distancing norms.

 

All shop owners will have to keep masks in their installations for sale, so that if any consumer visits without wearing masks to their installations, at first masks have to be sold or distributed among such consumers and only thereafter goods and other materials will be sold to such consumers. Every shop or commercial installation will have to keep sanitisers for their in house use and for customers.

 

If any given area is declared a containment zone, all shops and commercial installations coming under containment zones will be closed down till further orders and rules and regulations for containment zones will have to be complied with.