Curfew: Punjab issues fresh guidelines on supplies, movement control

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 25

To streamline the supply of essentials in the curfew-bound Punjab, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Wednesday issued fresh directives, including instructions for issuance of passes to maintain critical services.

A press statement issued by the government said the CM constituted a committee under the chairmanship of ACS (Industry & Commerce) to oversee the procurement processes for all CoViD-19 related items. To ensure supply of materials and equipment to government medical facilities, the DCs have been asked to contact PSHFW and MD, PHSC, with the facility of sending advance indents.

He directed the police and administrative officials to ensure that door-to-door delivery of essential services was maintained, and it may be further streamlined with the assistance of e-commerce companies/service providers. Volunteers may also be engaged, if necessary.

The providers of essential services (hawkers/delivery boys) or institutions should be allowed to operate for fixed duration, but on specific permissions.

For special goods trains, which have been arranged to move food grains out of the state to ensure adequate storage space for the coming wheat crop, the Department of Food has issued complete protocol.

Secretary Arun Sekhri on Wednesday issued revised curfew management guidelines to all Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners, Commissioners of Police/SSPs, and others.

DGP Dinkar Gupta also issued instructions to officers to ensure that functioning of delivery boys, rehris, small motorised vehicles, etc, was facilitated to ensure smooth supplies.

Offices that have been designated in the Government of India’s order will be allowed to remain open with skeletal staff. Specific state government offices may also be required to remain open with minimal functional staff. Employees of such offices will be allowed to travel from home to office on their institutional identity card, and specific curfew passes would not be necessary.

For employees of governments, including PSUs and SPUs, of Haryana, Punjab and UT of Chandigarh, who are residing in Mohali district (especially Mohali and Zirakpur), it has been decided that they may be allowed to commute to their offices for official duty (not with their families or in groups) by showing their official or institutional photo ID cards, and they would not be required to obtain curfew passes.

All other government employees will be directed to work from home.

Permissions may be given in the following manner:

a) Permits may be issued for fixed period to all those exempted by GoI/GoP. Such permits can even be in the form of authorisation letters.

b) Institutional permits to the exempted institutions such as media houses, IOC/HPCL, post offices, banks, Railways, petrol pumps, LPG suppliers, etc., should be given through specific letters, attaching therewith the list of employees of each of such institutions. These employees should then be allowed to go to office in duty hours on their institutional identity cards, but they may not be allowed elsewhere such as markets, etc, for their personal work.

c) Those institutional permissions, which are issued for maintaining essential supplies, in the form of authorization letters, should clearly mention so and would be valid across the state.

d) Individual passes may be given only in an emergency and if so required, such an individual may be permitted to use vehicle but for a given purpose only.

e) Healthcare establishments (hospitals, nursing homes, PHCs, CHCs), both private and government, and their employees, should be given a general permission to operate and their employees may be allowed to commute for duty/work on their institutional identity card.

To simplify the process, the issuance of passes has been tasked to various officers as follows:

• DFSC: Food, ration and grocery shops, transportation of food grains, mandi labour and procurement related works.
• Dy. Director, Horticulture: Fruits and vegetables.
• Dy Director, Animal Husbandry: Milk vendors and suppliers and related movements.
• GM DIC: Industries/industrialists/industrial labour.
• DMO: Hawkers of any kind; Mandis and Purchase Centers, Arhtiyas;
• CAO: Farmers and harvesting related movements.
• General passes for individuals and others: Asst Commissioner (Gen), SDM, Tehsildar, or any other person specifically authorised by DC.

For point-to-point movement of individuals or providers of essential goods and services, the passes can be issued by the authorised signatories at origin, clearly giving address of destination and purpose of traveling. Such passes should be honoured both during transit and at destination, but such pass holders should not be allowed to stop or go anywhere other than the specified destination.

The Government of India in its order has also emphasised maintaining supply chains of essential goods and commodities. Vehicle number and mode of transportation should also be specified. However, movement of people in groups should be avoided.

For individual emergencies, DCs should continue to follow up and facilitate the common man through helplines already established in the districts. The number of helplines and persons attending such lines may be increased and properly publicised, the guidelines state.

For procurement of wheat, ACS (Dev.) and PSFS would issue a comprehensive mandi-wise plan in due course. Likewise, for harvesting of the potato crop, ACS (Dev.) would issue necessary guidelines by March 27.

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