Nagaland closes down non essential services, borders sealed

The Government of Nagaland on Sunday ordered the closure of shops and business establishments dealing in non-essential goods, government offices and restricted the public movement and commercial passenger vehicles with effect from midnight of March 22. .(Morung Infographic by Samuel S Rengma)

 

Govt orders closure of offices, restrict commercial passenger vehicles, public movement

 

Our Correspondent
Kohima | March 22

The Government of Nagaland on Sunday ordered the closure of shops and business establishments dealing in non essential goods, government offices and restricted the public movement and commercial passenger vehicles with effect from March 22 midnight.

 

Making a copy of the order available to media houses during a press conference here this afternoon, the Chief Secretary ordered the closure of all shops and business establishments except pharmacies, petrol pumps and grocery shops selling food grains, food items, vegetables, daily use items and other essential commodities. Media houses have also been exempted from the shutdown.

 

Public and private commercial passenger vehicles like buses, taxis, autos, two-wheeler taxis etc, shall not ply till further orders. Vehicles carrying inter-state transit passengers will be allowed till March 23 midnight, the order stated.

 

Movement of all public is restricted except those coming out of their homes for procurement and distribution of essential commodities, availing essential services, medical facilities and other basic needs.

 

It also sealed all inter-state entry points except for movement of essential commodities, security forces, medical equipment and supplies and goods vehicles transiting the state till further orders.  Drivers and attendants of the vehicles in transit shall however be subject to medical screening as per laid down protocol, it said.

 

The preventive measures include closure of all government offices, both central and state, except for District Administration, Police, and Security Forces, Fire & Emergency Services, Home Department, medical, Postal Services, NIC, NSDMA, Power, PHED, Food & Civil Supplies, Finance, Treasury and Accounts, Banks/ATMs, AIR and Doordarshan. However, the Administrative Heads of Department/ Heads of Departments/Heads of Offices shall form a core group of officers/staff to attend to urgent and essential matters.

 

All other government employees should be available on call, the order stated.

 

Any person/ group of persons acting in violation of this order shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code, the order stated.

 

 ‘All steps are being taken to combat COVID-19 pandemic’

Chief Secretary Temjen Toy assured that all steps are being taken and various measures have been put in place to combat and prevent COVID-19 pandemic.

 

“In order to fight and control the spread of this disease, two actions are basically required. One is prevention and other is preparedness,” he during the press conference here today.

 

As far as, preventive measures are concerned, the state government, has from time to time issue various restrictions.

 

On being asked if the state has enough stock of essential commodities, the Chief Secretary said “We are not going to suffer at this point of time for want of essential commodities” as the government is not stopping movement of vehicles carrying essential commodities.

 

We don’t expect that there would be shortage of essential commodities, he added.

 

Temjen appealed students who have come home from across the country to restrict their movements, cut down on socializing and also adhere to all precautionary and personal hygiene measures that are required to be taken.

 

The Chief Secretary said that there is countrywide shortage of protective equipments like hand sanitizers and mask. The matter was conveyed to the Cabinet Secretary, Government of India, via video conference with all the chief secretaries, he said and added “We are trying to make arrangement to bring as much as possible.”

 

On testing facility, the Chief Secretary said that Nagaland and Mizoram are only states in the north east which do not have testing centres. He said that testing centres for Corona cases require a lot of protocol and it cannot be set up overnight, adding that he has requested the Cabinet Secretary to set up testing centre for the state on priority.

 

The three testing centres where Nagaland intends to send the samples include Imphal, Dibrugarh and Guwahati.

 

Temjen acknowledged the efforts and contribution of the chemistry department of Kohima Science College, Jotsoma and Fazl Ali College, Mokokchung for making hand sanitizers and distributing the same to the public.

 

Meanwhile, he made a fervent appeal to the people and said that this is not a time to criticize.

 

“This is a time to join hands,” he said and added that the government is looking forward to the support of the people to fight the dreaded virus.