Janta Curfew: Near-total shutdown across West Bengal as people stay indoors

West Bengal witnessed a near- total shut down on Sunday as people chose to stay indoors amid the 'Janata Curfew' call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Private vehicles were off the roads, and all markets and business establishments were shut in the city and the districts.

Major railway stations and airports in the state also wore a deserted look as people avoided venturing out. A handful number of state-run buses were, however, seen in the city, besides a few yellow taxis.Few police vehicles and those associated with the emergency services were also out on the streets.

Most of the gated-colonies and apartments in the state were locked from inside, while civic bodies took up the job of sanitising public places such as parks and bus stands. Those associated with milk and newspaper delivery, however, did not skip their routine. Kolkata's Mayor Firhad Hakim toured different areas of the city to oversee the sanitisation works.

Despite the shutdown, the indefinite sit-in by 50 women against the Citizenship Amendment Act at the Park Circus Maidan here continued, amid pleas from the mayor to postpone it by two weeks. The beach town of Digha in East Midnapore district, which usually teems with tourists, was completely vacant, except a few fishermen who were returning from the seas. The scene was similar in Darjeeling and other tourist destinations in the state.

Earlier in the day, around 1,000 passengers arrived at Howrah railway station on a special train from Mumbai and were screened by medical officers of the West Bengal government.

Image credits: ANI