Odisha government appears to have adopted a rather strange practice of issuing orders pertaining to lockdown relaxations , night curfew etc at the proverbial eleventh hour keeping anxious people of the state in suspense.
The set of guidelines were to lapse at midnight on 31 July and it was only late in the evening of the said day that the state government came out with its order for the month of August.
Sheer insensitivity, charged annoyed businessmen here . Why cant the government come out with its order at least one day prior to the expiry of its earlier instructions, they asked. Till late in the evening telephones kept ringing as all sections of people kept enquiring whether lockdown has been lifted from tomorrow or not.
Significantly, before the state government came out with its Unlock 3 announcement, several districts had issued their own set of instructions like extending lockdown for four to five days.
The inexplicable delay forced the government to provide relaxation in its week end shut down scheme for the first weekend of the month – tomorrow and day after ( 1&2 August) from 5 am to 1 pm. A senior government officer tried to explain that it is a very complex COVID management related issue.
But when states across the country are able to take decisions early or synchronize with the central government’s announcement in this regard why cant Odisha do the same is the question that begs an answer.