Lockdown tightened

Krishnaraja, Devaraja and Narasimharaja sub-divisions on high alert; barricades laid

Mysore/Mysuru: If all roads leading to Padarayanapura and Bapujinagar, off Mysuru Road in Bengaluru have been sealed off and asbestos sheets have been used as barricades to prevent entry and exit of people, things are no different in Mysuru where the lockdown norms have been tightened with barricades from this morning. 

With spiralling of COVID-19 positive cases in Mysuru, the City Police and the District Administration are not taking any chances and have barricaded more densely populated areas in city. The tightening of lockdown at the micro-level is part of the administration’s containment plan to check the spread of the deadly virus.

Police are ensuring that people do not move from one area to another in search of essential commodities, milk and medicines and they were asked to buy the essentials that are available in a particular area without going anywhere. Many were asked to return home. 

Though the Police had barricaded some of the roads and even as uniformed Police personnel deployed at each point sweating it out in the April sun, residents continue to flout rules. 

Despite the Police rejecting the residents’ requests to go out, they manage to enter the roads through lanes and by-lanes. As such, there was normal movement of people and an open disobedience of lockdown rules. Even seizure of vehicles has not helped. 

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Dr. A.N. Prakash Gowda has directed all the subdivisions of Krishnaraja, Devaraja and Narasimharaja to block the movement of people and make use of barricades even in small lanes and narrow stretches. 

Barricades were laid even in areas like Hebbal, Sharadadevinagar, Kuvempunagar, Bogadi, Vidyaranyapuram, Vivekanandanagar, Vijayanagar and Jayalakshmipuram.

These barricades have been tied together and Policemen are posted. Some of the places were barricaded in such a way that only two and four-wheelers could barely pass with entry of heavy vehicles barred. 

The entire Mahadevapura-Udayagiri Road has been blocked for vehicular traffic except for roads leading to medical shops, grocery and vegetable outlets. Stringent measures are in place at densely populated areas of Udayagiri, Shantinagar, Ghousianagar, Rajivnagar, Kyathamaranahalli, Raghavendranagar, Gayathripuram, Shaktinagar, Gandhinagar, Jalpuri, Jyothinagar, Shivaji Road, Azeez Sait Nagar, Mandi Mohalla and N.R. Mohalla.

While the main roads have been barricaded, even some of the connecting bylanes have been sealed. Interestingly, in many localities, to prevent vehicles zipping past and violating the lockdown rules, residents themselves have barricaded the lanes with bamboo poles, flower pots and cement blocks.

Police sources told Star of Mysore that till yesterday, officers in the ACP (Assistant Commissioner of Police) level were managing the lockdown but today DCP Prakash Gowda has taken charge and is in the field to effectively implement the lockdown measures.

Apart from these measures, two drones have been deployed to warn violators through recorded audio message and also photographing the vehicles that are unnecessarily moving from one place to another. Also, the hi-tech Mobile Command Centre has been placed at strategic places to capture the photographs of violating vehicles.