Vijayawada remains Red Zone

Vijayawada: The Centre has declared entire Vijayawada and a contiguous belt alongside - mandals of Vijayawada East, West, Central, North and Vijayawada Rural, in addition to Machilipatnam, Nuzvid, Jaggayyapet, Nandigama, Vatsavayi, Penuganchiprole, Penamaluru, Kankipadu, Chandarlapadu in Krishna district - as areas under Red Zone.

While Krishna District recorded 75 positive cases, Vijayawada alone has 66 positive cases.

Akividu Nagara Panchayat in West Godavari was also announced as Red Zone after some positive cases were found in it along with Kaikaluru and Kalidindi mandals in Krishna district as per the guidelines issued by the Centre.

The guidelines stipulate that 3 km area should be announced as Red Zone where positive cases were reported. It would become 5 km if the buffer zone area is included with it in the urban areas. If it is in the rural areas, the area would become 7 km.

District Collector A Md Imtiaz said the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation, Machilipatnam Municipal Corporation, the municipalities of Nuzvid, Gudivada, Jaggayyapet, Nandigama, Vuyyuru, Pedana, and Tiruvuru and Kondapalli village had been declared Red Zone areas. He said as per the guidelines, 10 municipal towns and 16 mandals in the district were identified as Red Zones.

The Collector said the sub collectors, RDOs and Tahsildars were appointed as incident commanders who would implement the zonal restrictions.

They also have the powers to relax the lockdown in Green Zone municipalities and mandals. He instructed the incident commanders not to allow anyone to move out of the Red Zones and not to allow outsiders to enter.

The Collector said that the lockdown was relaxed in 37 mandals in the district which are now Green Zones where hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, medical labs, medical shops, veterinary hospitals and veterinary shops, and affiliated industries, agriculture and aquaculture activities are allowed.

MNREGA works would also be undertaken in the Green Zones. Post offices, grocery shops, petrol bunks, LPG, CNG outlets would be kept open.

The Collector said that efforts were on to bring normalcy in the villages and mandals with the shops keeping open. The industries could also start production with the available workforce, he said. The work on roads and buildings could also be undertaken.

He instructed the commanders to implement the guidelines. The declaration of a Red Zone would be in vogue for 14 days, if no other cases were reported it could be changed into Orange Zone by the commanders.