Ordering a complete lockdown of the state until March 31 on account of the coronavirus, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Tuesday said, that the curfew would be implemented 100 per cent and not a single shop would be allowed to open during the period.
Sawant, in his press conference held after a meeting of the state cabinet which cleared the lockdown till March 31, also said, that only emergency services would be allowed to function in the state and the state administration would work out an arrangement to facilitate providing groceries and other essentials during the period of the lockdown.
“We have already set up a high-level committee of the state government and have given it full powers to take decisions,” Sawant said.
The announcement comes on a day, when the Goa government had relaxed the extended Janta Curfew for a period of four hours from 7 am to 11 am to allow purchase of food and other essential items.
“Now, not even a shop will be allowed to be kept open until March 31. It will be 100 per cent lock down, a 100 per cent curfew. We can survive without a few days without even food we will manage. We should see what the situation is and what we are going through,” Sawant said.
The Chief Minister also said, that the police had been empowered under the Epidemic Disease Act 1897, to arrest anyone violating the norms of the curfew.
“Nobody should come out of the house. If anyone comes out of the house, we will quarantine. We will forcefully quarantine,” he said.
Sawant also said, that all passenger transport facilities had been banned and that only movement of essential goods would be allowed on the state’s roads.
“For electricity, water supply, curfew passes will be issued. Media also should not go out, passes will be issued to only some media persons,” Sawant said.
“This lockdown should be followed. Do not assume that there is no case in Goa. There are cases in Goa, it is just that no one has tested positive perhaps because no one has developed severe symptoms as yet. Just because we do not have a case let us not assume that it is safe,” Sawant said.