COVID-19: Will be forced to impose section 144 if restrictions are violated, says CM

Thiruvananthapuram: Violation of directives and restrictions will force the government to impose prohibitory orders in Kerala, said chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

He was speaking about several incidents in the state where places of worship allowed crowds during regular prayers and people under isolation violated quarantine.

The CM was addressing the media after a coronavirus review meeting here on Saturday evening.

"It has come to our notice that at some places of worship nearly thousands of people have been allowed to participate in a festival. We request religious leaders not to repeat such actions. We are also requesting the people to stay away from the crowd and those having symptoms should stay at home. If they fail to follow the instructions of the state government, strong action will be initiated," Pinarayi Vijayan said.

He also lashed out at the "irresponsible" act of the Kasaragod patient who had roamed around and forced even two of the MLAs into self-quarantine and said such people were working against the society.

"The patient was roaming around as he pleased. Kasaragod district administration has published the partial route map of the patient. Despite counselling, the patient failed to help the health department to make a proper route map. There is something fishy in it," the chief minister said.

The district collector said the patient was not cooperating, the CM pointed out.

Meanwhile, a person who was asked to remain in home quarantine was found inside a Kerala State Transport bus. After passengers alerted police, he was shifted to a hospital. The KSRTC officials sanitised the bus before continuing with the journey.

Kerala is taking intense efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. People of different religious and political backgrounds have been working together for this. Many religious leaders welcomed the government directive and intervened to avoid crowds during prayers and religious functions.

But at the same time, several have shown an entirely different mindset and are not showing any respect to the restrictions and directives from the government. There had been incidents of mass gatherings at places of worship and crowds during festivities.

The CM requested that such incidents should not happen again.

He warned that if the public does not heed to the restrictions and directives from the government, it would have no other option but to implement drastic measures such as imposing prohibitory orders.

“The restrictions have been placed in view of the safety of the society as a whole. The government will not make any compromises in this regard. District administrations have been given clear instructions in this regard,” Pinarayi Vijayan clarified.

(With inputs from PTI)