Patna DM asks people to follow Covid guidelines or he will recommend lockdown

Patna: Patna district magistrate Chandrashekher Singh appealed to the people to follow the Covid protocols or he will recommend to the state government to impose a complete lockdown in the city.

Singh along with newly appointed SSP Mannavjeet Singh Dhillon visited several places in Patna to assess the situation on Day 1 of the night curfew.

They directed the police to impose fines on people roaming on the streets without any reason. The police first asked for reasons for being on the streets after 10 p.m. Those who could not give satisfactory reasons, had a fine imposed on them followed by a warning not to repeat this mistake.

“We have visited some places and directed the authorities to implement the guidelines. The violators were warned and fined. Our random checking will continue to motivate people to understand the threat of deadly infection,” Singh said.

“The Quick Response Team (QRT) which is commonly known as Dhawa Dal in Bihar are deployed at several places coordinated with police personnel of the respective areas to implement Covid guidelines in the city,” he said.

The effect of the district magistrate’s direction was visible on the roads in day time too. Several persons who were not wearing face masks were penalized. They were seen doing sit-ups at several places.

The corona infection during the third wave is extremely severe in Patna.

At present, the Bihar government has imposed night curfew from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. in the morning till January 21 to break the chain of corona. Retailers have been asked to operate till 8 p.m. only. As many as 13 retailers who violated the directive of the government paid the penalty on Thursday night.

“The situation is currently under observation. If the situation does not improve in the future, we may take the decision to open retail outlets on the basis of an odd-even formula. In a bid to decongest, shifting of vegetable markets will start after a few days,” he said.

Meanwhile, 20 officials of the Vidhan Sabha tested corona positive on Friday. Due to this work was suspended in the Vidhan Sabha till January 16. Since all the officials tested positive in rapid antigen tests, the Vidhan Sabha Speaker directed them to undergo RT-PCR tests as well. The report of Speaker Vijay Kumar Sinha came negative.

Anupam Kumar, secretary of chief minister Nitish Kumar and Madan Mohan Jha, state president of the Congress, tested corona positive on Friday