The 14-day lockdown in Guwahati, which began from Sunday midnight, is going to be strict and violators will not be spared at any cost, the police said.
The city police will use five drones to monitor for surveillance and see that no one violates the lockdown norms.
The drones will keep a close watch round-the-clock in the COVID-19 sensitive areas like Panbazar, Fancy Bazar, and others.
“Along with the drones, police forces will keep round-the-clock surveillance in every location of the city,” said Police Commissioner Munna Prasad Gupta while addressing the media earlier on Sunday.
“We have already made public announcements to make the people aware of the lockdown,” Gupta added.
“This time there will be no compromise. Any violation of the lockdown will attract legal action as per the Disaster Management Act and IPC,” he added.
The Police Commissioner also informed that a special strategy has been formulated this time for the lockdown and additional forces will also be engaged by the Police Commissionerate.
It has also been learnt that the Assam government has directed both district and police administration of Guwahati to strictly implement the lockdown norms.
“Any negligence of the same will attract immediate punishment to the enforcers as well,” sources said.
“Traffic personnel will be on duty for 24 hours at every point connecting bye-lanes with main roads,” informed Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Mayank Kumar Jha.
“People with a medical emergency and those who have already booked flight or train tickets will be allowed by the police to move in the city,” Jha said.
“Media persons and newspaper distribution activities have also been exempted from the lockdown,” Jha added.
The health department also plans to collect swab samples from as many people as possible during this lockdown period.
The department has already set up testing and counselling centres in every ward of the city and 500 samples a day are being collected daily by the health workers.
It may be mentioned here that the city will soon have rapid testing facilities and these will be set up in these centres itself.
“Anyone can come for COVID-19 test to a nearby centre during the lockdown days,” said a senior health official.