COVID-19: Three mega cities of State 1 announce lockdown
– Birat Anupam
With the view to prevent potential outbreak of COVID-19, three mega cities of State 1— Biratnagar, Itahari and Dharan today have announced a lockdown.
Dharan sub-metropolitan was first major city to announce the lockdown with Mayor Tilak Rai urging all residents to remain indoors. Mayor Rai said the restricted movement is not applied to people requiring emergency treatment. The announcement with its immediate effect from today saw deserted looks of streets and squares of Dharan.
Similarly, Biratnagar metropolitan City Mayor Bhim Parajuli announced lockdown starting from tomorrow. Mayor announced so at an interaction with local journalists at his office this afternoon. The only metropolis of the state borders Bihar state of India, which saw the first recorded death of a COVID-19 patient.
”All people in our city are urged to stay inside their homes. This is not the lockdown of the local government but of locals themselves”, said Mayor Parajuli.
Similarly, Itahari Sub-Metropolitan City, located between Dharan and Biratnagar, has also announced a lockdown. Officiating mayor of the city Laxmi Gautam issued a public notice urging all city dwellers to stay inside their homes. ”We have urged Nepal Police to enforce this rules to all non-essential travels outside homes”, said Gautam. Gautam also said the emergency meeting of the Municipal Executive decided to set up 200-bed quarantine center at ward number 5 of the sub metropolis.
Meanwhile, State 1 Traffic Police Office has announced lockdown to all public transportation of the state. The chief of the Itahari-based state-level traffic police office Superintendent of Police (SP) Bhim Bahadur Dahal said the lockdown would be imposed strictly. ”It is all for prevention of the deadly global pandemic”, stated SP Dahal.
The chiefs of business leaders of Dharan and Itahari have also urged their members to halt their everyday business activities. Bhim Bahadur Poudel, the chair of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Itahari, issued a public notice calling for a lockdown of all business of Itahari starting from today until April 3.
In the similar manner, Rajesh Agrawal, the General Secretary of Dharan-based Sunsari Chamber of Commerce and Industry, also urged to cease business activities during the same period. ”We have issued the notice based on the instruction given by our city officials”, said Agrawal in his release.
