A 34-hour long weekend curfew announced by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha as a measure to contain upsurge in COVID-19 cases in J&K was enforced strictly in almost all parts of Jammu region on Sunday.
Near-total deserted roads, which otherwise remain crowded, was the specter across Jammu city and its outskirts.
A large posse of Police personnel were manning the main chowks, all barricaded, in Jammu city while at sensitive locations including Bikram Chowk, they were accompanied by paramilitary force personnel.
The curfew, which began at 8 pm on Saturday ends at 6 am on Monday.
Even the bustling lanes and by-lanes also remained devoid of the usual hustle and bustle though there was hardly any deployment of Police in the city interiors, signaling self-discipline displayed by the inhabitants in general while following curfew restrictions.
Few vehicles or individuals, out on roads, for whatever purpose were being stopped by policemen deployed there and were being allowed to proceed only after thorough checking of relevant documents and enquiring about the purpose of movement.
However, the emergency and essential services, by and large, remained unaffected as most of the departments including the hospital administrations had arranged transport facilities for their staff.
For the emergency and essential services employees, their photo identity cards were being treated as curfew passes.
Later, few pictures showing Police personnel stopping a car carrying newly-wed couple and making enquiries – an indicative of strict restrictions in place on Jammu roads, also went viral.
Though marriages were allowed, following COVID-19 SOPs and protocol yet restrictions vis-à-vis the numbers were strictly enforced.
Police Saturday night and Sunday morning used loud-speakers as well as vehicles fitted with public address system in various localities cautioning people against the violation of weekend curfew.
Prior to the imposition of the weekend curfew, all 20 districts of J&K were observing ‘corona curfew’, enforced every night from 10 pm to 6 am.
Meanwhile, the government also announced to increase this duration by two hours.
From Monday onwards, the corona curfew will be observed from 8 pm to 6 am.