District Disaster Management Authority, Leh, Chairman, Shrikant Balasaheb Suse issued an order of extending the ongoing COVID curfew till May 24. 

As per the order, all grocery/ general stores, vegetable/ fruit shops, meat/chicken shops, milk/dairy product shops, bakeries, tyre repair and vehicle spare parts shops would be allowed to open every day from 7 am till 2 pm. Similarly, supply and distribution of essential commodities by/from wholesalers/distributors would be allowed between 5 AM to 9 AM and their movement would be allowed on production of valid Trade License/Registration Certificate. They would not require separate permission for their movement.

All government employees would be allowed to commute to/from the office on the production of valid identity cards and duty roster. The movement of field staff/ contractors for supervision and monitoring of works would be allowed only on the production of work allotment order by the concerned department or unit head in case of the army and paramilitary forces.

Developmental activities and construction work would be allowed only where the labourers reside on the construction site and their unauthorized outward/inward movement would not be allowed. Likewise, agricultural activities would be allowed with strict adherence to Covid-19 SOPs.

The order also notifies that the movement passes already issued by the office of DDMA Leh would remain valid till 24th May 2021 and e-passes for emergency cases could be applied on leh.nic.in/epass/.

He further stated that travellers coming by air/road must have a negative RT-PCR report not older than 96 hours and proper surveillance and quarantine mechanism is already in place for incoming travellers. The DDMA Chairman, Leh further appealed to the public not to listen to rumours and instead resort to the press releases/briefings from DDMA, Leh and DIPR, Leh for authentic information. 

Strict actions would be taken if anyone is found spreading false information/rumours regarding the COVID situation and violating the above orders.