Bhayandar: As the number of coronavirus patients rose to 22 with four fresh cases and one death being reported from Mira Road on Tuesday, the district administration imposed a complete ban on the movement of private vehicles on Wednesday (March 8) till further orders.
As per orders promulgated by District Collector (Thane)- Rajesh Narvekar, movement of vehicles including – two-wheelers, three-wheelers and light motor vehicles, have been prohibited on all main roads, arterial roads, streets and by-lanes of the twin city.
Auto-rickshaws, cabs and public transport buses are already off roads. Only those vehicles which come under the permitted categories and are used for essential and emergency services have been kept out of the order and will be allowed to ply in the region. People, however, can walk their way to nearest establishments to buy essential commodities.
While milk, fish, meat and grocery stores (including those in shopping malls) will remain open from 9 am to 5 pm, vegetable and fruit markets have been allowed for three hours from 9 am to 12 pm. Medical stores will operate as per usual routine.
Home deliveries will be allowed between 9 am to 5pm. Despite appeals and warnings some people kept coming out of their homes, without any rhyme or reason, prompting the authorities to take the stringent step to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus.
Even curfew passes were being misused to buy fuel at petrol pumps. The Thane (rural) police have already shut its border with by restricting “non-essential” vehicular traffic from the neighbouring cities like Thane. Palghar and Mumbai. The fresh orders are in addition to the already imposed prohibitor orders.
