<p class="p1">After witnessing a massive increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, Nagpur will observe 'janta' (voluntary) curfew on weekends till the end of September.</p>
<p class="p1">The district registered more than 2,000 new cases yesterday.</p>
<p class="p1">Nagpur Mayor Sandeep Joshi has now appealed to the people to observe janta curfew for two of the remaining weekends of September – starting from September 18 night till September 21 morning followed by September 25 night till September 28 morning.</p>
<p class="p1">The city will observe a curfew from 9:30 pm on Friday to 7:30 am till Monday.</p>
<p class="p1">In the absence of any 'official' order by the municipal corporation or other officials there will be no enforcement on the citizen to follow the curfew.</p>
<p class="p1">"Despite repeated appeals, some irresponsible citizens continue to flout rules and pose a threat. Lockdown is no solution as it is not permitted by the government. However, we have decided to implement a 'janta curfew' with voluntary participation of people," Joshi urged.</p>
<p class="p1">The announcement came after Joshi, along with Municipal Commissioner Radhakrishnan B, met officials and legislators like Nago Ganar, Girish Vyas, Krishna Khopde, Vikas Kumbhare, Mohan Mate, Vijay Jhalke, Dayashankar Tiwari, Sandeep Jadhav, Tanaji Vanve and Additional Municipal Commissioners Ram Joshi, Jalaj Sharma and Sanjay Nipane besides medical authorities.</p>
<p class="p1">Radhakrishnan said given the current state of the city, there was a greater need for social responsibility and not a lockdown which was a period of preparation to tackle an impending situation.</p>
<p class="p1">"Every citizen must recognize his/her responsibility and adhere to the rules, take all precautions since the city has all required medical facilities and the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is making all-out efforts to further augment these," he added.</p>
<p class="p1">Mayor Joshi said that since Radhakrishnan recently took over as the Municipal Commissioner, the health services have made a comeback as more Covid tests were being conducted and tests can be done at more than 50 centres helping early diagnosis and treatment.</p>
<p class="p1"> On an average, nearly 6,500-7,000 coronavirus tests were being conducted daily in Nagpur, the number of Covid hospitals has gone up from seven to 40 and bed strength was nearly 3,500.</p>
<p class="p1">Janta curfews have also been enforced or announced in other towns like Kolhapur, Sangli, Jalgaon, Raigad and Aurangabad. Till September 16, Nagpur district with a population of 4.7 million, has recorded 55,827 Covid cases and 1,485 deaths.</p>.