Night Curfew Leaves Denizens Of Bhubaneswar Confused And Clueless

Night Curfew Leaves Denizens Of Bhubaneswar Confused And Clueless

The rapidly rising number of COVID 19 positive cases in Odisha in the last few days has left the Odisha government dazed and confused. While scrambling to get a hold of the situation the Government of Odisha has decided to clamp restrictive curfews across several parts of the State. The second wave of COVID 19 seems to be relentless as it is spreading like wildfire. 

On Thursday, the Odisha government announced that it is going to clamp stricter restrictions as night curfews across the state and weekend shutdowns in 10 districts bordering Chhattisgarh will be implemented. Night curfews will come into force from April 17 in urban areas of 20 districts which includes the twin cities of Bhubaneswar and Cuttack between 9 pm to 5 am. 

Chief Secretary Suresh Mohapatra informed the decision in a specialized televised address. Mohapatra said that the State government today revised the timings of night curfew which is already in force in 10 districts of the State sharing borders with Chhattisgarh. “As per the decision, the timings of night curfew in these 10 districts has been revised. Now the night curfew restrictions will be imposed from 6 pm instead of 10 pm to 5 am and will remain in force till further orders.”

Emergency services like water supply, health care and others will be exempted during the night curfew. No passes will be issued but the employees need to carry their identity cards. “The night curfew has been clamped to restrict the movement of people. There will be no restrictions on the good carrying vehicles within the State and outside,” Mohapatra added.

Restaurants and bars will be allowed to continue operations with 50% of staff along with strict adherence to COVID 19 norms. All inter-state bus operations will be suspended from Monday, April 19 while intra-state bus operations will continue with sitting capacity only. Only 2 passengers are allowed in autos and taxis. Government offices to function with 50% staff and private firms are directed to reduce staff. 

While the denizens of Bhubaneswar were expecting a lockdown, they seemed to be confused and clueless about the effect of such restrictions. Sonali Patnaik, a law student expressed her confusion and said, “At night most of the people stay at home anyway. Everybody knows that Bhubaneswar doesn’t have a nightlife. Pubs, bars and restaurants close by 11-11:30 pm here. So what’s the point of this curfew?”

She continued, “They are doing this just to show on paper that they have taken steps. What they should be doing instead is deploy more personnel to enforce COVID etiquettes. The government should raise the amount of fines even more and should not spare anyone. Only then people will learn to take this pandemic seriously.”

Expressing similar opinions, Abhijit Das, an IT professional said, “Political rallies and religious gatherings are happening in broad daylight. So what’s the point of having night curfews. If you want people to take things seriously then impose a complete lockdown for a few days and make them realise how difficult it is to survive such a situation. Then open things up and impose heavy fines. That is the only way to control this surge. I am not in for of a lockdown but that is the only way to handle stupid people and there is no dearth of them.”