Curfew in the districts of Imphal West, Imphal East and Bishnupur have been relaxed from 5 am till 10 pm for Monday (October 23) with the government citing improvement in the law-and-order condition. However, they have been relaxed with conditions.
Orders issued by the respective district magistrates of Imphal East and Imphal West on Sunday stated that curfew has been relaxed in both districts in order to facilitate the general public in purchasing essential items including medicines and food.
However, this relaxation will not apply to any gatherings/large-scale movement of persons/sit-in-protests/rallies etc. without obtaining permission from the competent authority, the orders stated.
It further mentioned that movement of persons belonging to essential services such as health, electricity, PHED, petrol pumps, schools/colleges, municipality, press and electronic media, functioning of courts and to and fro movement of flight passengers to the airport will be exempted from further imposition of curfew.
As for Bishnupur district, an order issued by Lourembam Bikram, IAS, District Magistrate/DC, Bishnupur, Manipur on Sunday stated that curfew has been relaxed from 5 am to 10 pm for Monday (Oct 23) but with certain conditions.
Notably, this is the first time that curfew in Bishnupur district has been relaxed till 10 pm.
As per the order, no person shall carry any arms of any kind during the period of relaxation for inciting violence such as sticks, stones, and firearms without a valid License, weapons, or objects of any description, which can be used as offensive weapons; Shops and other retail outlets are allowed to open during the period of relaxation.
The order further stated that all persons shall effectively abide by the relaxation schedule; No extension is given and valid for any person and all attempts to delay shall be treated as violative of the curfew.
Violation or attempt of violation of any kind shall be treated as per government instructions and as applicable per law, the order said.
However, all persons belonging to essential services such as the Health, PHED, Municipal Officials/Staffs and Media persons shall be exempted from further Imposition of curfew after the expiry of said period of relaxation, the order said.
