the goan I network
PANAJI
After days of dithering on a studied and strong response to the threat of the global pandemic hitting home, the Goa government seemingly taking the cue from next-door Maharashtra, ordered the closure of schools, colleges, casinos, pubs, boat cruises, movie halls and swimming pools both public ones and those in hotels from midnight of the intervening night of Sunday-Monday until March 31.
The partial shutdown was announced at a specially called press conference by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Saturday afternoon after he chaired a high-level emergency meeting attended also by Health Minister Vishwajit Rane, top bureaucrats, government health officials and representatives of the Airports Authority, Railways and MPT.
Strangely, the shutdown ordered by the government which also issued the relevant notifications and orders by Saturday evening does not affect malls, restaurants and hotels. The government also did not cancel the ongoing Shigmo parades and left it to the local organising committees.
The decision to shut down schools, however, will not affect examinations already scheduled which will take place as planned, the Education Department has clarified.
Also, the shutdown is only meant for students. Teachers and non-teaching staff of educational institutions will have to report to work as usual.
Sawant, meanwhile, said express instructions have been issued for procuring more thermal scanners to be deployed at the airport and all other entry points including ports, railway stations and border check-posts located on land borders with the neighbouring States of Karnataka and Maharashtra.
The chief minister also said an advisory will be issued to urge people to avoid unnecessary travel and to eliminate mass gatherings. The situation will be reviewed before March 31, Sawant added.
Rane had on Friday strongly recommended to the Chief Minister that the Shigmo
parades be suspended but the latter’s decision to overrule it drew severe criticism from quarters in the medical fraternity.
Sawant, however, sought to justify the decision saying several of the local organising committees have claimed that the parades are visited only by locals.
The government also banned formal campaign meetings in the ongoing Zilla Panchayat electioneering, polling for which are scheduled on March 22, drawing flak from Opposition Leader Digambar Kamat who questioned the contrasting logic of permitting Shigmo parades.
Meanwhile, the Goa Church has also been advised to take precautionary measures for mass gatherings, the chief minister said.
In another development, the Bombay High Court has said the benches functioning at Goa, Nagpur and Aurangabad will restrict themselves to hearing only those cases which are urgent.
The High Court also advised lawyers, litigants and impleaded parties to mention their matters in person to justify the ‘urgency’ claim.
