On the first day of ‘Unlock 1’, heavy traffic congestion was reported at Delhi-Noida Direct Flyway as police personnel checked passes and IDs of people commuting through the route.
The Gautam Budh Nagar district administration had on Sunday said it will keep the Delhi-Noida border shut due to the rise in Coronavirus cases.
According to a report of the district health department, the “source of infection in 42 per cent of the COVID-19 cases in the last 20 days has been tracked to Delhi”.
“Therefore, it has been decided in public interest that status quo shall be maintained with respect to inter-state border,” said the statement.
Lockdown 5.0 or Unlock 1.0 will see some major relaxations compared to the previous phase of the lockdown including travelling between borders of states.
On Sunday, the Uttar Pradesh government allowed interstate travel but left it to the district administrations of Ghaziabad and Noida to take a call on the movement of people from adjoining New Delhi.
“There is no ban on interstate and intra-state movement by persons or goods,” Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary RK Tiwari was quoted assaying by PTI.
Meanwhile, the Delhi-Gurugram border, which had been sealed in the previous phases of lockdown, has been opened.
Heavy vehicular traffic was witnessed on Monday at the Delhi-Gurugram border as commuters came out in large numbers on the first day of the Unlock-1.
On Saturday, the Centre took an exit step from the 68-day nationwide lockdown, declaring that the restrictions will be limited only to containment zones up to June 30 and that the prohibited activities will be opened in a phased manner in areas outside these zones, allowing restaurants, malls, religious places and education sectors to open in a phased manner.
Applicable from Monday, June 1, the fresh order issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) spoke of the expanded fresh guidelines a day ahead of the end of lockdown 4.0.
“In exercise of powers under section 6(2)(i) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has directed the undersigned to issue an order to extend the lockdown in containment zones up to June 30, and reopen prohibited activities in a phased manner in areas outside the containment zones,” the order read.
“Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred under section 10(2)(l) of the Disaster Management Act 2005, it is directed that the guidelines will remain in force up to June 30. With effect from June 1 to June 30, the lockdown 5.0 will be limited only to containment zones and only a elimited number of activities will remain prohibited throughout the country,” it added.
As per the order, international air travel, operation of Metro Rail, cinema halls, gymnasiums, swimming pools, entertainment parks, theatres, bars, auditoriums, assembly halls, and political, sports, entertainment, academic, cultural and religious functions, and other large congregations will remain prohibited.