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Hyderabad, April 19 (IANS) The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the state government to take a decision within 48 hours on imposing night curfew or weekend lockdown to check the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The court made it clear that if the government fails to take a decision in 48 hours, it would pass appropriate orders.
Hearing the petitions relating to Covid-19 situation in the state, a bench of Chief Justice Hima Kohli and Justice B. Vijayasen Reddy termed as "disappointing" the state government's handling of the situation.
When Advocate General B.S. Prasad informed the court that the government is monitoring the situation, the court remarked that this is time for action, not monitoring.
The court wanted to know from the government as to why it is not taking any steps to prevent gathering of people for election rallies, marriages and funerals. It also asked the government why no action was taken to prevent crowds at cinema theatres, bars and pubs.
The court heard the matter twice in the day. Earlier, it termed as disappointing the affidavit filed by the state government, observing that the affidavit has no details of the measures taken by the government to check the spread of the pandemic. It wanted to know why the affidavit has not listed details like measures to check footfall in cinema halls and other public places.
At one point, the court wanted to know if the state was contending to be the Covid-19 topper in the country.
Posting the hearing after lunch break, the court asked the government to submit all the details.
It asked if the government had any problem in restricting the number of people thronging pubs, bars, cinema halls, malls, banquet halls and other public places as it also pulled up the authorities for not taking steps to control people entering the state through buses, trains or private vehicles.
The court wanted to know if the government constituted emergency teams at ward levels. It also sought to know the assistance being provided by the government if all members of a family are infected by the virus.
The bench directed the government to ensure that the results of RT-PCR tests are available in 24 hours. It asked the government to submit a report with all the details before April 22.
--IANS
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