Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday has announced more relaxations in lockdown in urban areas.
• The shops dealing in non-essential items can remain open on Saturdays. Sundays, however, will be closed.
• The shop timings have also been relaxed from Monday to Saturday to till 9 p.m.
• Night curfew will be in place in all cities/towns now from 9.30 p.m. to 5 a.m.
• Hotels and restaurants will be allowed to remain open on all days, including Sundays, till 9 p.m., after which home delivery of food will be allowed, as per the revised guidelines.
• It has also been decided to align opening of non-essential shops in Mohali with the rest of the tri-city (namely Chandigarh and Panchkula).
Inflated Electricity Bills
Shopkeepers have been complaining about getting inflated bills even though their shops had remained closed for a long duration, to this the Punjab Chief Minister has directed the Electricity Department not to charge bills on the average of the previous year but to send actual bills.
Cash Compensation for COVID positive construction workers
Captain Amarinder also announced cash compensation of Rs. 1500 for construction workers who test positive or whose immediate family has tested positive and they have to be quarantined. He has also asked the Congress MLAs to take the lead in distribution of free food packets to poor patients who have tested positive to enable them to have enough ration at least for 7-10 days during home isolation.
Counter Negative Propaganda on Organ Harvesting
To counter the negative propaganda being spread on Covid testing and organ harvesting, Punjab CM also directed the MLAs and Ministers to rope in Sarpanches, workers to educate people about importance of following health protocols. Also, he asserted that oximeters are no replacement to testing. The Oximeters can only help by guiding a person to seek admission in hospital when Oxygen saturation levels become low. He further added that the government is procuring 50000 additional Oximeters to be given to health staff and Asha workers in addition to some of the home isolation patients.
He has directed state police to crack whip on such mischief-makers in society.
Source: The Tribune
Image Credits: Google Images