Ashok Gehlot, the Chief Minister of Rajasthan on Saturday night ordered a complete lockdown of the state. Earlier, the Governor of the State Kalraj Mishra had declared the COVID-19 as an epidemic as the state showed an increase in the number of positive cases in the state.
As of 22nd March 2020, the state of Rajasthan has a total of 25 active cases of COVID-19 out of which 8 cases were reported on Saturday alone with six from Bhilwara and one each from Sikar and Pali. Following the confirmation of the first few cases, Rajasthan had ordered to shut down places of public gathering such as Theatres, Malls, and religious places and had asked private-sector employees to work from home.
On Saturday, preempting more positive cases in the state, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot ordered for the complete lockdown of the state. All private and government factories, transport facilities, shops, government offices are shut down except for essential services. Essential services include pharmacies, vegetable shops, delivery systems, everything will remain shut in the state until 31st March 2020. With this Rajasthan became the first state to order a complete lockdown of the state.
Economic Aid to Working Class
Furthermore, the Chief Minister directed the labor department to not hand over pink slips to its employees during the lockdown period. He also ordered them to mandatorily declare holidays to all its employees.
Taking into account the economic repercussions, the Chief Minister ensured that all the families registered under NFSA will be given food supplies of two months in advance for free of cost. Similar arrangements have been undertaken to provide aid to street vendors, daily wage workers and others in need of living in urban areas. The ration for them is to be given on or from April 1st, 2020.
After Rajasthan, as the situation grows grim, more states are expected to follow the same and impose complete lockdown. Apart from the measures taken by the respective state governments, on March 22nd, the entire country is under ‘Janata Curfew’, an initiative taken by the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi.
