PUNE: Malls can reopen from Monday at 50% capacity till 7pm in the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) areas, while restaurants, bars and food courts will be able to serve patrons till 10pm at half their capacity.
These relaxations would also apply to areas of the Pune and Khadki cantonment boards falling in the PMC limits but not to areas under the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) and Pune rural.
The closing time for all essential and non-essential shops, places holding entertainment, political and social functions, and outdoor and indoor sports activities would be extended till 7pm from Monday.
Restrictions on travelling without a valid reason would come into force after 10pm instead of the current 5pm deadline, said the order issued by Pune municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar on Friday.
The decision to offer more relaxations in the PMC limits was taken after deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar conducted a review meeting earlier in the day.
He said the Pune civic areas warranted relaxations mentioned for cities categorised as level 2 under the state’s “break the chain” mandate because the PMC’s weekly positivity rate (WPR) was less than 5%.
The relaxations would not apply to PCMC and Pune rural areas as their WPR was above 5%.
The PMC, though, has not adopted all relaxations spelt out in the order for level 2 cities/districts.
It has persisted with the Saturday-Sunday closure of non-essential shops, the only exception being liquor outlets which can operate till 7pm on all days.
Kumar said, “We have issued orders according to the norms for level 2 areas with some restrictions.
We want to tread cautiously.
Pawar has already said the weekend positivity rate would be checked.
If any sudden rise is noticed, we might have to revise the orders accordingly.” Kumar said the PMC’s positivity rate was 4.95% and its oxygen bed occupancy was at 23.33%, which led to the revision in restrictions.
Pimpri Chinchwad municipal commissioner Rajesh Patil told TOI that they would continue with the level 3 restrictions regardless of whether the positivity rate dropped below 5% or not until next Friday.
“We will review the situation next Friday.
Orders will be issued every Friday based on the positivity rate for seven days before that,” he said.
The only relaxation offered by the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) offered on Friday was allowing reading rooms, libraries and coaching classes for competitive exams to reopen at 50% capacity.
Patil admitted it would be a challenge to keep a tab on vehicular movement in the PCMC after 5pm since traffic in the PMC areas would operate till 10pm and there would be cross-movement between the two corporations.
Pune police commissioner Amitabh Gupta said, “The PMC’s order will come into force from Monday.
We still have a day in hand.
After discussing with different authorities, we will issue our orders on Saturday and elaborate on the night curfew hours and movement of people on roads.
We will also discuss how to facilitate movement of people between Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad, especially at night.” Pune district collector Rajesh Deshmukh said though the positivity rate in rural Pune had come down to 9.6% this week as compared to 13% the earlier week, no relaxation would be offered there, as advised by experts.
Dr Subhash Salunkhe, advisor to the state government on Covid-19, justified his recommendation to Pawar of not allowing further relaxations in rural Pune.
“Covid-19 norms, like wearing face masks and social distancing, are not being followed properly.
There is a threat of ‘reverse order’ impact, meaning Covid transmission can take place from rural to urban areas, if we lift/end Covid restrictions in rural Pune.
Also, less than 10% of the population in rural Pune is fully vaccinated.”