Telangana High Court suggests to create containment zones

The Division Bench of the High Court headed by Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice Bollam Vijaysen Reddy asked the State Government to create micro-containment zones and containment zones in the State, keep strict vigil on the ingress and egress into such zones by posting home guards at entry points, impose restriction on number of people attending marriages or such gatherings particularly during May to see that the pandemic does not spread. The Division Bench was hearing a batch of Public Interest Litigations regarding Covid-19 related issues, took on record the Status Report filed by the Director, Public Health and Family Welfare, and the Director-General of Police, Telangana.

"This Court is not asking the Telangana Government to go for Lockdown but we are insisting upon the State to identify and create micro-containment zones and containment zones in the State, maintain strict vigil and issue timely advisories to the general public," Chief Justice Hima Kohli said.

She observed that there will be a blast of marriages in view of the auspicious days falling in May and in the absence of restrictions not being imposed on such gatherings, there will be a huge spurt of cases in the marriages.

Chief Justice Hima Kohli, directed the State Government to seriously think of imposing restrictions on the number of participants during marriages, more particularly during the ensuing May, 2021.

The Bench while going through a separate report filed by the Director-General of Police, Telangana, expressed its displeasure over the number of cases booked against people for large gatherings and failure to maintain social distancing.

The police in their report said that 13,219 cases were booked by the Police under IPC in the entire State.

Only 16,400 cases have booked against those who did not wear masks. A large number of people are thronging to pubs, bars and wine shops. The bench observed that enforcement was very lax.