Telangana: Lockdown extended till 29 May, but liquor shops open

The Telangana government late on Tuesday announced the decision of the cabinet to extend lockdown in the state till May 29.

Addressing the media late in the night, CM K Chandrasekhar Rao appealed to the people to cooperate with the decision of the government to extend the lockdown in a bid to contain the spread of Coronavirus pandemic.

The government decided to continue night curfew in all the 33 districts. Of the 33 districts in Telangana, districts 6 are in the red zone, 18 in orange, while 9 districts are in the green zone.


Government has also decided to open liquor shops from Wednesday across all zones - red, orange and green, while increasing the prices by 15%. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the state decided to open liquor shops as four neighboring states, with whom Telangana shares it's borders, have opened liquor outlets, leading to cross border issues supplies, along with cheap and spurious liquor.

The number of new coronavirus cases was more in the three districts of Hyderabad, Ranga Reddy and Medchal, together accounting for 66% of cumulative 1,096 Covid-19 positive cases.

The chief minister said his government decided to take tough measures in these three districts and not to give any relaxations that the Centre allowed in red zones.

The Telangana government will study the experiences of other states that gave relaxations and review on May 15 to consider restricted relaxations. Land registrations, road transport authority activities and sand mining will commence from Wednesday.

Shops in rural areas are allowed fully, while only 50% shops will be allowed in towns on alternative basis from Wednesday.