Srinagar
Restrictions have been imposed by the administration across this summer capital of the J&K and elsewhere to limit the movement of people in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus which has infected more than 244,500 people and killed over 10,000 worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking cases reported by the World Health Organization.
The restrictions were imposed after a 67-year-old woman from Khanyar area of Srinagar, who had returned on March 16 from Saudi Arabia after performing Umrah, tested positive for covid-19. Test reports of at least 14 persons including two contacts of the woman from Khaniyar Srinagar are awaited.
News agency GNS reported that concertina wires and other barricades have been erected across many streets including those in old city here to impede the public movement. However, emergency and essential services are allowed.
According to deputy commissioner Srinagar Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, the restrictions on movement across Srinagar are aimed at containing the spread of the coronavirus.
He said emergency and essential services including hospitals, power, water, fire & emergency, supplies & services, patient care facilities, waste disposal, sanitation, offices, ambulances, machinery have been exempted for the purview of the restrictions. “These are temporary measures and people need to cooperate,” he said.
Reports of restrictions were also received from other parts of the Valley including south Kashmir’s Shopian, Pulwama, Anantnag and Kulgam districts besides northern Kashmir’s Baramulla, Kupwara and Bandipora as well as central Budgam and Ganderbal. “Restrictions have been mainly imposed in main towns while the movement of people has been limited elsewhere,” they said.
The authorities have already banned all types of public transport including bus, minibus, maxi cab and auto passenger services in district Srinagar with immediate effect till further orders.
“To mitigate the transmission of COVID-19 in Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, It is hereby ordered that no Bus Service/ Mini Bus Service/Maxi Cab Service/Auto Passenger Service shall ply in District Srinagar with immediate effect till further orders”, reads an order issued by regional transport officer Kashmir.
“Further, no public transport shall enter District Srinagar from the North, South, or central Districts of Kashmir Division,” the order added.
