Cops above 55 years spared of duty; KSRP, CAR, DAR deployed; Beeline at departmental stores, liquor outlets to purchase daily needs as curfew imposed till 6 am on May 12

Mysore/Mysuru: Both the Police and the people are gearing up for the stringent two-week COVID Curfew across the State from 9 pm today till 6 am on May 12, imposed by the State Government allowing only a small window for essential  services to operate from 6 am to 10 am daily during the period.

 While the people are purchasing provisions and essentials to stock up their homes, the Police are summoning extra forces to ensure strict enforcement. 

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, City Police Commissioner Dr. Chandragupta said that the entire Police machinery would hit the streets for stringent enforcement of COVID Curfew from 9 pm today and additional forces like Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP), District Armed Reserve (DAR) and the City Armed Reserve (CAR) would be deployed. 

“We will be in full force but have exempted personnel above 55 years of age from duties. Both civil and traffic Policemen would be deployed in their respective jurisdictions. Barricades will be laid across the city to prevent unnecessary movement and announcements will be made by Garuda and PCR vehicles starting at 8 pm today. We are foreseeing cooperation from the people as by now they would have realised the seriousness of the issue,” he said. 

On inter-district and inter-State movement ban — except for emergencies — imposed by the Government, there is no clarity as yet. “It is not yet clear on how to identify an emergency situation — whether to issue passes and who will issue passes, whether timings and duration will be mentioned in the passes. As of now, there is no clarity and the detailed orders are expected in a couple of hours,” Dr. Chandragupta said.  

All facilities in the supply chain of essential goods, wholesale and retail of such goods through local stores and e-commerce companies are allowed to operate and officials attending office work have to carry ID cards and students appearing for examinations must show admission tickets as travel pass. 

“Hotels, eateries and restaurants are permitted to operate kitchens for takeaway/ home delivery of food items. All entertainment activities will be shut and will follow the Government guidelines. Takeaways are allowed in standalone liquor shops and outlets between 6 am and 10 am and all industrial activities and industrial establishments and production units are allowed to operate. The staff would be allowed movement by showing ID cards issued by the industries concerned,” the Commissioner added.  

Garment sector, which hires lakhs of employees particularly women will remain closed and all construction work and civil repair activities and agricultural activities are permitted. Petrol pumps, hospitals and medical stores would operate as usual and there are no restrictions. Hospital visits are permitted to patients with one attendee. 

 Panic buying; liquor sale up

With just hours for the rules to come into force, people rushed to buy provisions to stock up in their homes. Also, hundreds of people whose homes were elsewhere started making preparations for trains or buses to take them homewards. 

Some people misunderstood this to be a lockdown like the one announced on March 23 last year and they were seen rushing to shops to buy as much of the essentials to keep them going for some days at least. 

Wine stores made brisk business and many displayed empty racks as demand picked up in the hours after the Government announcement. Long queues were seen at liquor stores yesterday where people carried beer bottles and liquor containers to their vehicles parked outside. Today, however, there was not much rush at wine stores as the Government had permitted liquor to be sold too in the four-hour window.