New delhi Updated: March 25, 2020
Telangana Chief Minister Chandrasekhar Rao on Tuesday said that if people still refused to stay indoors during the lockdown, he would have no other option but to order the police to shoot-at-sight violators. He also warned that he would impose a 24-hour curfew if the people of the state continued to disobey lockdown orders, according to India Today.
“In US, Army had to be called in to enforce lockdown. If people don’t follow coronavirus lockdown, a situation may arise where we’ll have to impose 24-hour curfew and issue shoot-at-sight orders. I urge people not to let such a situation arise.” said Rao in a public statement.
Rao even said that he may consider asking the Army to take over if people continue to violate the lockdown rules. He said that if necessary he would even shut down petrol pumps to keep people off the roads. “Curfew would be implemented from 7:00 pm to 6:00 am and all shops should be closed by 6 pm daily,” said the Telangana CM.
“I am instructing all MLAs ministers corporators to remain available, it’s the time for their action,” he said. “We are taking away the passports of patients who have tested positive for novel coronavirus. Those violating home quarantine protocol will also face passport seizure,” added Rao.
Telangana, along with the rest of India, has been put under a 21-day lockdown. However, there will be exceptions for essential commodities like groceries, medicines and cooking gas. The nation-wide lockdown was announced by the PM on Tuesday, it has been done to ensure social distancing and curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the number of active cases of COVID-19 in Telangana were 25 as of 9:00 pm on March 24. Nationwide the number of active cases has risen to 468 according to the Health Ministry. As per the announcements of the World Health Organisation, globally the number of cases has climbed to over 3,76,000, including around 16,000 deaths. ( Business Today )
