Commuters violate one-hour silence order for COVID-19 victims in Punjab

Vehicles
were seen commuting in Punjab from 11 till 12 noon on Saturday despite state governments order of observing one hour of silence to
commemorate the memory of COVID-19 victims, said a PTI report. The violaters said they were unaware of the order.

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The Punjab government last week announced that one hour of silence will be observed every Saturday from 11 am to 12 noon in the memory of those who lost their lives to COVID-19. The order said that no vehicles will be allowed to ply at this hour.

A commuter from Ludhiana, who was reportedly going to visit a patient at a local hospital, said he was unaware of the government’s direction. Another commuter from Hoshiarpur cited the same reason.

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The order to observe one-hour silence, however, caused massive inconvenience to the commuters after police stopped the movement of inter-city vehicles that led to long queues.

The police officials on the other hand said they were trying to appeal to people to stay back at home during that hour.

“We have allowed people to commute in case of an emergency,” said a police official.

On the COVID front, Punjab on Friday recorded 3,176 coronavirus infections marking the highest one-day spike in the state. 59 deaths were reported.