JOIN USLockdown won’t continue if people make it work: Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai
Lockdown 3.0 need not continue beyond May 17 if people cooperate and make it a success, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Thursday.
“The government has effectively implemented the first and second lockdowns. But the success of the third lockdown is crucial. Relaxation has been given for agriculture, industries, shops and other establishments; the onus is on people to make the lockdown a success while carrying out economic activities,” Bommai told reporters.
“If Lockdown 3.0 doesn’t yield expected results, then it’ll be inevitable for the Centre and state governments to take other measures,” he warned, while urging people to comply with the government’s orders on wearing masks, strict quarantines, social distancing, reporting those who are ill and regulation of interstate travel.
Bommai, Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar, Tourism Minister CT Ravi and Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan have emerged out of home quarantine after they came in contact with a journalist who tested positive for COVID-19. “We tested negative and still went into home quarantine as a precaution. We did a second test and all of us are negative,” Bommai said.
The minister accused the Opposition Congress of spreading false information on the issue of migrant workers. “The government has not stopped migrant workers from returning to their native states. We haven’t stopped the trains,” he said. “Bihar, Odisha and West Bengal didn’t want us to send their workers back. Train services can be made available only if the other states agree. But the states are wary because they’ll have to arrange for quarantine and other facilities,” he said.
Sudhakar cautioned that relaxation provided under Lockdown 3.0 did not mean that the covid-19 theat was gone. “Some think so, but it’s wrong. Coronavirus hasn’t gone.”