Unlock 1: Many relaxations expected in Pune’s Lockdown 5.0
Pune, May 31, 2020: The fifth phase of lockdown has been announced and now the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has started preparing new measures by increasing the containment and micro containment area in Pune. The old affected areas will be replaced depending on the number of corona patients. During this phase, shops in the affected areas will be allowed to open, but micro-containment zones are likely to face strict restrictions.
PMC officials said that public transport buses of PMPMPL and autorickshaw may be allowed to operate in the city. On the other hand, in Kothrud, Baner-Balewadi, Aundh, Pashan, Sinhagad roads, there is no sharp increase in the number of patients and hence there will be no strict restrictions there. If there are atleast five COVID patients in a building, house, then they will be included in micro-containment zones list. Also, a 100-meter area within its radius will be declared as containment zone. The new list of containment zones will be released by PMC either today or in the next two days.
The central government has extended the nationwide lockdown till June 30. Some relaxations will be given in this fifth phase of the lockdown. However, the central government has clarified that the lockdown for the containment zones will continue and the local bodies (municipality/collector office) will decide on the relaxations there. Therefore, it is certain that there will be some limits for Pune. Accordingly, the Pune municipal administration is reviewing the relaxations in the fifth phase of the lockdown and their implementation.
Shops in the affected areas of the city are closed. Therefore, the residents of these areas are facing hardships. Therefore, there is a possibility of getting full relaxation to open shops in this area, especially shops for essential items.
Pune Municipal Commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said that the lockdown policy in Pune will be announced after the orders of the central and state governments on the new phase of lockdown.
