Hubballi-Dharwad residents flout weekend curfew rules
The Hindu
Many shops operate with half-shut shutters; crowds throng market too
Even before Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa announced the third unlock guidelines to be implemented from July 5, the residents of Hubballi-Dharwad seem to have taken it for granted and on Saturday flouted the rules with elan despite the weekend curfew being in force. Barring the central business district, where police personnel were keeping vigil, shops and commercial establishments operated with half-shut shutters. The crowd in the market area too was huge despite weekend curfew. Although in-charge Deputy Commissioner and ZP CEO B. Susheela had issued an order saying that the weekend curfew would be in place on Saturday and Sunday, the public did not seem to take it seriously. While bigger hotels in central business district allowed only takeaway services as per the guidelines, many smaller food joints operated like any other normal day on Saturday allowing the public to dine in.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.