Janata Curfew: 33 District Collectors turn backroom boys for government

Hyderabad: The Collectors of 33 districts in Telangana State played a role of 'backroom boys' to the State government in the enforcement of self-imposed 'Janata Curfew' for 14 hours called by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the country and the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's appeal to Telangana people observe 24-hour home stay as part of preventive measure to check the spread of deadly coronavirus.

State Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar had created special communication network in the State Secretariat connecting all Collectors and monitored the situation from time to time.

The Collectors were giving updates to the Chief Secretary every two hours regrading the movement of people and the security measures taken by police in all sensitive areas in every district.

The Collectors of border districts mainly Adilabad, Mancheriyal, Wanaparthy, Suryapet , Khammam , Bhadradri-Kothagudem, Zaheerabad and parts of Mahbubnagar districts were put on high alert.

All the vehicles coming from the neighbouring districts were being inspected thoroughly and the surveillance teams conducted preliminary medical tests. The suspected persons with virus symptoms were sent to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.

Officials said that a group of people coming from Mumbai by bus were stopped at Zaheerabad near Telangana and Karnataka border and sent to Hyderabad for medical tests in a separate vehicle.

Along with police, the Municipal Administration and Urban Development and Revenue officials were also roped in for the services to ensure the success of the self- imposed curfew.

Municipal authorities have taken up sanitisation of the urban premises on a war footing. The Revenue officials were busy coordinating with all State and district authorities in providing necessary information to the top authorities.

Adequate police forces were deployed in villages, municipal towns and district headquarters to track the safety of people residing in their homes for the whole day.

Officials said that Chief Secretary was conveying all the updated information from districts to the Chief Minister's Office and the feedback from the CMO was sent to the Collectors so that the officials discharge their duties without any communication gap.

The Chief Minister also spoke to the Collectors and enquired the prevailing situation in their respective districts.