Srinagar, Apr 26 :
Business and other activities resumed on Monday after remaining suspended due to 34-hour COVID-19 curfew imposed by the Union Territory (UT) administration from 2200 hrs on Saturday to break chain of Corona virus in the Kashmir valley, where positive cases and death has witnessed a surge during the past few weeks. An official spokesman said that 2381 new positive cases of novel Corona virus (COVID-19) were reported in the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday. He said 848 from were reported form Jammu division and 1533 from Kashmir division , thus taking the total number of positive cases in Jammu and Kashmir to 160755. Also 21 COVID-19 deaths have been reported, 11 from Jammu Division and 10 from Kashmir Division, he said. Meanwhile, the State Executive Committee (SEC), in exercise of the powers conferred up on it under Section 24 of the Disaster Management Act,2005, hereby orders that night curfew timings within municipal and Urban local body limits of all districts
Business, other
of J&K shall be from 2000 hrs to 0600 hrs next morning instead of 2200 hrs to 0600 hrs. Similarly, SEC also orders that all paid public parks in the UT of J&K shall remain closed for visitors till further orders. All activities came to halt in the Kashmir valley, including Srinagar, from 2200 hrs on Saturday due to COVID curfew. Acting tough against COVID-19 curfew violators, police arrested nine persons, 992 were fined, four First Information Reports (FIRs) were registered and over a dozen vehicles were seized in the valley, an official spokesman said. However, today all road blocks and other restrictions were lifted to allow people to resume their activities as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), including wearing masks and keeping social distance. Shopkeeper and other business establishments were asked to follow the instructions issued by the administration strictly.
Srinagar district had recorded 748 fresh cases on Sunday, an official spokesman said. With this Srinagar has 5850 Active Positive cases, he said adding 508 persons have lost their lives since the outbreak of COVID-19 Srinagar.
The historic Lal Chowk, which was sealed yesterday from all sides, to prevent any activity, came to life again today. However, only one side of the shops in the nerve centre of the city were open while other side remained shut as per instructions issued by the government.
In busy Maraj Bazar, Goni Khan, Amira aKadal, Court road, Regal Chowk, Residency road, Moulana Azad road, Maisuma, Gaw Kadal, Dalgate and Hari Singh High Street (HSHS) only 50 per cent shops were functioning. However, roadside vendors, particularly selling vegetables and fruits, could be seen in the city areas.
Banks and other financial institutions also resumed their functioning.
Traffic movement, including public transport also resumed today after remaining suspended since Saturday night due to curfew. However, on some routes public transport violated instructions and were plying with full capacity of passengers. A passenger Mohammad Ashraf said he boarded a vehicle (Tata Sumo) at Chanapora in the uptown for city and there was no social distancing.
A UNI correspondent saw police and traffic police personnel fined a number of vehicles at Budshah Chowk for not following the SOPs and other instructions issued by the administration. However, the transporters alleged that they will suffer a huge loss if they ply their vehicles with only 50 per cent passengers. The administration had failed to increase the passenger fare, they said.
Similar reports were also reported from other parts of Srinagar, including down town, uptown and outskirts.
Reports of resumption of normal activities were also reported from other parts of the valley.
