Police register cases against 15 persons for violating home

The Odisha Police has registered a total number of 324 cases, relating to the violation of lockdown norms and home quarantine, in the last 24 hours, official sources said on Saturday.

Out of the 324 cases registered, 308 cases were related to violation of lockdown norms, 15 cases were related to violation of home quarantine and one case was registered on an issue related to COVID-19, Odisha governments COVID spokesperson Subroto Bagchi said.

The state government is worried about the behaviour of the persons who are breaking the home quarantine norms and mingling with the general public.

The state government, to ensure public safety, had asked all the 84,000 people, who came to the state from other places, to remain in home quarantine for 14 days.

The members of the panchayati raj institutions were asked to make sure that these people remain in their homes, an official said.

Recently, around 84,000 Odias have returned to their villages from other states, while the number of overseas returnees was about 4,000.

The state, considering these people as potential risks, advised them to remain under home quarantine.

Meanwhile, the states Labour Department has coordinated with 9,000 workers from other states stranded in Odisha.

They are from Bihar, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and other states, Bagchi said.

Food, shelter and in some cases healthcare have been provided, he said.

In another development, the state government on Saturday declared cattle feed and poultry feed as essential commodities and asked all the retailers to keep their shops and depots open.

Grocery shops have also been permitted to sell livestock feed, an official notification said.