TURA: The administration in West Garo Hills district has announced a brief relaxation of its four-day curfew for the public to be able to procure essential food items on Thursday.
“Relaxation from 7 AM to 1 PM on Thursday is being given in the entire district only for groceries, vegetables and meat items for the public to be able to purchase from shops. However, only one member per household will be allowed to come out to buy necessary items and they will have to keep a social distance of one meter from one another,” informed West Garo Hills, Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh to The Shillong Times on Wednesday evening.
The district administration in each of the five Garo Hills districts imposed curfew from Tuesday night until 6 AM of March 28. However, the restriction on people coming out of their homes will continue to be in place for 21 days, up to April 14, as part of the three-week lock down announced all over the country by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The two simultaneous orders for a shutdown have brought life to a standstill in the state with citizens grappling with scarcity of essential items.
Shockingly, traders engaged in providing essential food items failed to open their stores even though guidelines clearly state that they do not fall in the restricted group.
Only pharmacies were found open in Tura and Williamnagar during the first day of the curfew on Wednesday. “We are soon going to take a call on lifting some of the restrictions to allow citizens to be able to purchase groceries in East Garo hills district,” informed Deputy Commissioner, Swapnil Tembe.
District officials meet
Meanwhile, West Garo Hills District Administration, in an emergency meeting on Wednesday to decided that medicines and essential items for the people will be provided through door-to-door distribution for which the government notification was being awaited and would be notified by March 27.
Senior citizens’ plea
Meanwhile, the Tura Garo Senior Citizen Forum has urged Chief Minister Conrad Sangma to ban all means of transport entering Garo Hills region.