Centre of Indian Trade Unions, General Secretary, Jorhat, Dibendu Das, said, "We extend our support to the Janata Curfew called by the PM. In Jorhat, we can call it as a 100 percent successful exercise. This morning, the water supply has been suspended. Municipality work has been shut. Today, the central government's call can be called successful."
"However, the steps, which should have been taken, are unfortunately yet to be implemented. At a time when the Kerala Government issued a 20,000 crore package to tackle the outbreak, the central government is yet to take measures for the public interest," added the Jorhat CITU GS. The local resident has urged the central government to take the necessary steps to control the situation before it becomes impossible.
India is following the fourteen-hour 'Janata Curfew' on Sunday following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call to restrict citizens to their residences. The city of Guwahati, Assam, wore a deserted look on Sunday. Similar sights have been witnessed in the cities of Shillong in Meghalaya, and Gangtok in Sikkim. However, the few people who are out on the streets, are out with a purpose.
All the shops across Assam will remain closed on Monday, the day after the nation-wide Janata Curfew. Speaking on the lines of the 'Vyapar Bandh' or business shutdown on Monday, the Jorhat CITU General Secretary said, "Although we have welcomed the decision of the Assam Chamber of Commerce, we also have to keep in mind that the daily utilities' prices will see a sharp increase in the coming days. Back to back two days of Bandh will certainly impact the business."
In a bid to prevent COVID-19 outbreak in the state, the Assam Transport Department has also taken a slew of measures and is constantly monitoring the situation in the field.
Extending support to the Prime Minister’s call for Janata Curfew on March 22, ASTC buses, IWT ferries and private vehicles have also been suspended.
The Assam Transport Department has constituted five teams at the state level to monitor the compliance of instructions to handle Corona Virus. The teams are ensuring that the instructions are being complied with by the concerned agencies, associations, stakeholders, and at ferry ghats, bus stands, ISBT- Betkuchi, Uber, Ola, Rapido services, auto/e-rickshaw stands etc. The Transport Department is working closely with the passengers for enforcing precautionary measures to contain the outbreak of COVID-19.
It may be mentioned here that India has recorded a total of 324 coronavirus cases. Maharashtra has topped the list, with 60 cases, followed by Kerala with 45 cases, Rajasthan 22, Uttar Pradesh 24, Delhi 28, Haryana 3, Himachal 2, Karnataka 20, Punjab 13, Telengana 10, Ladakh 13, West Bengal 4, Uttarakhand 3, Tamil Nadu 4, Puducherry 1, Odisha 2, MP 4, Gujarat 14.
Two deaths have been reported from Maharashtra. A fresh case of a 65-year-old has been reported on Sunday morning, taking the death toll in India to six (including one foreigner).
Globally, 308,594 cases of coronavirus have been reported. 13,069 deaths have been reported so far. China, Italy, USA, Spain, Germany, Iran, France, South Korea, Switzerland and the UK are the ten countries with the highest number of cases in the world.
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