According to an official order, under the night curfew, movement of individuals for all non-essential activities will remain prohibited between 10 pm to 5 am. The new curbs come into force with effect from January 7 and will be applicable until further notice, the order said.
Amid the rising Covid cases, the Chandigarh Administration Thursday decided to impose night curfew in the Union Territory from Friday and also shut all educational institutions including schools, colleges, universities and coaching classes, officials said.
However, essential activities including emergency services, medical health, transport of essential goods, operation of multiple shifts in industries, offices etc -- both government and private -- movement of persons and goods on national and state highways and unloading of cargo and travel of persons to their destinations after disembarking from buses, trains and airplanes will be permitted.
“All educational institutions including schools, colleges, universities, coaching institutions shall remain closed. However, these institutions will maintain the academic schedule through online teaching,” said the order issued by the Disaster Management Authority of the Union Territory. Medical and nursing colleges may continue to function normally in offline mode, said the order.
All government offices in Chandigarh except those related to essential services/departments will function with physical attendance of 50 per cent capacity of actual strength with regard to 'Group C and D' staff, said the order. The rest of the 50 percent staff would be required to work from home and the concerned head of offices would prepare a roster for their duty, it said. All private offices will also function with 50 percent staff and rest would be required to work from home.
All bars, cinema halls, multiplexes, malls, restaurants, spas, museums, shall be allowed to operate at 50 percent of their capacity subject to all staff present being fully vaccinated. Gathering for any purpose should be restricted to 50 persons for indoor and 100 persons for outdoor. However, the total number of persons shall not exceed 50 percent of the capacity in both indoor and outdoor gatherings.
In Chandigarh's main grain market or Sector 26 sabzi mandi, only rehriwalas or vendors will be allowed with the condition that they are fully vaccinated and no entry for retail customer/general public shall be allowed with effect from January 10, the order said. Palika bazaar and Sadar Bazaar in Sector 19 here, Patel Market in Sector 15, Shastri Market and mobile market in Sector 22, Krishna Market in Sector 41 and 'Apni Mandis' to close by 5 pm.
With inputs from PTI.