By A Staff Reporter
Kathmandu, Sept. 9: Three Chief District Officers (CDOs) of the Kathmandu Valley Tuesday said the lockdown enforced in the Capital would get continuity by giving some conditional relaxations to begin some businesses and offices.The three CDOs of the valley separately said there is no likelihood of calling off the lockdown completely.
The Administrations (DAOs), after holding further consultations with officials at the Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday, may take a concrete decision to open some businesses and allow people to work in several private firms and companies by applying conditions," Hum Kala Pandey, Chief District Officer of Bhaktapur, said.
She said that the CDOS of the Valley were taking up the views, suggestions expressed from different quarters, including the businessmen and the public, through different media and social media, and this will help us to take one specific decision by Wednesday evening.
Suggestions and the views given only by the private sector and individuals would not be sufficient and practical as we must listen and do the needful as per the suggestions given by the health experts of the Ministry of Health and Population and look at everyday records of the infection of the virus in the Capital, CDO Pandey said.
Similarly, CDO of Katmandu, Janak Raj Dahal, said that the decision as to whether to partially or fully lift the lockdown will come only on Wednesday evening.
“As of Tuesday, we are in consultation to prepare a modality of the next round of lockdown,” he said. "We have been taking views from all quarters as much as possible to address their genuine demands and ideas they have given us," he said.
"The CDOs have been collecting suggestions forwarded from the concerned local bodies of the Valley and some of the local bodies have even been suggesting us to enforce lockdown by limiting the area and range of specific local bodies," CDO Dahal said.
In a meeting with private sector and businessmen on Sunday this week, Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli himself had hinted at relaxing the present modality of the lockdown enforced in the valley.
Narayan Prasad Bhatta, CDO of Lalitpur, said that the DAOs of the valley would take a new decision after taking into consideration the diverse ideas expressed from different quarters, including the health experts of infectious disease.
A review meeting on this topic will be held on Wednesday morning and the final decision taken the same night, CDO Bhatta said. "Internal meetings and discussions are still going on in the offices on Tuesday, so we can't say anything immediately and specifically today," CDO Bhatta said.
The term of the restrictions extended in the Valley for the second time is going to expire from Wednesday midnight. DAOs of the Valley had first enforced the restriction from August 19 to 26.