Coronavirus: UP Police file 6,000 FIRs over lockdown breach, book 19,000

46 cases registered under Essential Commodities Act; Force recovers Rs 3.18 cr fine from offenders

The Uttar Pradesh Police have filed more than 6,000 first information reports (FIRs) and booked nearly 19,000 people for breaching the lockdown imposed to contain the spread of pandemic coronavirus.

The UP Police filed 6,079 FIRs under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defying the lockdown orders pertaining to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897, state additional chief secretary (home) Awanish Kumar Awasthi told the media here this evening.

Besides, 46 cases have been registered under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) against 64 persons pertaining to the black marketing or hoarding of goods across the state. “The government is taking strict action in such cases and is committed to enforcing the lockdown norms in the state,” he added.

The authorities have put up 5,250 check barriers in UP to strictly implement lockdown, and so far challaned 150,000 vehicles, of which more than 12,000 four wheelers were also seized and Rs 3.18 crore recovered in fines from offenders.

Yesterday, the government had announced to ease the lockdown restriction for the ecommerce companies to enable easy doorstep delivery. The ecommerce companies have been advised to contact the respective district authorities for the resolution of their grievances and issuance of passes.

Further, the state has decided to allow unrestricted movement of trucks across the state to ensure that the supply chain of various commodities was not impeded. However, there is complete prohibition on the movement of people aboard such people.

So far, 101 positive coronavirus cases have been identified in UP, of which 14 had been discharged after treatment, while the remaining patients, who are said to be normal, are convalescing in different hospitals without requiring intensive care unit (ICU) support.

The state has a three-tier medical protocol to deal with coronavirus comprising community health centres, district hospitals and super specialty hospitals at the local/block, district and state levels respectively.

Currently, 8 coronavirus testing labs are functioning in the state and three more will soon join the league after the approval of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), UP medical, health and family welfare principal secretary Amit Mohan Prasad said.

“The state has entered a crucial phase with the total number of positive cases in UP breaching the 100 level,” he added. The government has deployed special medical nodal officers for the three coronavirus hotspots of Gautam Budh Nagar (Noida), Meerut and Ghaziabad.

Meanwhile, 1,300 community kitchens are functioning and they had distributed 462,000 food packets to the poor and labourers yesterday.

The state is urging the industrial units to arrange for the food and stay of their workers inside the factory premises during lockdown. The government is taking steps to improve the supply of essential commodities, including food, medicines, hand sanitisers etc in the wake of lockdown and high demand.