TheAllahabad High Court on Monday ordered a complete lockdown in five cities inUttar Pradesh till April 26.
Thefive cities are Lucknow, Prayagraj, Kanpur, Varanasi and Gorakhpur. All thesecities have been reporting a high virus load.
Respondingto a Public Interest Litigation, the bench, comprising Justice Siddhartha Vermaand Justice Ajit Kumar, directed the state government to strictly enforce thecurbs.
Thecourt said that all establishments, be it government or private, exceptfinancial institutions and financial departments, medical and health services,industrial and scientific establishments, essential services includingmunicipal functions, and public transport, shall remain closed till April 26.
Thejudiciary will however, function on its own discretion.
Allshopping complexes and malls shall remain closed during this period and allgrocery shops and other commercial shops, excluding medical shops, with morethan three workers shall also remain closed.
Allhotels, restaurants and even the small eating points on carts etc shall remainclosed.
Thecourt further said that all institutions like educational institutions andother institutions relating to other disciplines and activities, be itgovernment, semi government or private shall remain closed -- their teachersand instructors and other staff included.
Nosocial functions and gatherings including marriage functions shall be permittedtill April 26.
However,in case of already fixed marriages, a necessary permission would have to betaken from the District Magistrate of the district concerned.
Gatheringswould be limited to 25 persons and the District Magistrate concerned shall takedecision after giving due consideration to the prevailing situation of theimpact of Covid-19 including notification of containment zones in the areawhere such marriage has to take place.
Allreligious activities in public of any kind, is directed to remain suspended inthis period and all religious establishments of any kind will also remainclosed.
Allhawkers, including fruits and vegetable vendors, milk vendors and breadvendors, shall go off the road by 11 AM every day till April 26.
Containmentzones shall be notified every day in two leading Hindi and English newspapershaving wide circulation in the districts of Prayagraj, Lucknow, Varanasi,Kanpur Nagar/Dehat, and Gorakhpur.
Allpublic movements on roads would remain restricted completely, subject to abovedirections. Movements would be only allowed in case of medical help andemergencies.
Thecourt has further directed the state government to continue implementing thecurrent vaccination programme.