Day Curfew Lifted In Odisha’s Balasore Town, Restrictions To Continue From 9PM To 5AM

Balasore: Amid gradual improvement in the law and order situation, the district administration has decided to lift day curfew in Odisha’s Balasore town from Wednesday.

The curfew has been relaxed from 5 am to 9 pm and all commercial establishments will remain open during this period to allow residents to access essential services.

“As areas under Balasore Municipality gradually reclaim normalcy, daytime curfew has been relaxed. Night curfews continue to be imposed in areas under jurisdiction of both Sahadevkhunta PS & Town PS from 9 PM to 5 AM,” Balasore collector Ashis Thakare said in a post on X.

He also advised denizens to stay away from misinformation and fake news.

Later announcing the update at a press briefing, Thakare said that vehicular services and the entry of people into the town will be permitted in cases of medical emergencies. “Internet services have been fully restored, and pre-schools, anganwadi centres, and government and private educational institutions have reopened as the situation is under control,” he added.

Curfew was clamped in the town following a group clash over an animal sacrifice issue during a religious occasion in Patrapada under Sunhat on June 17. Curfew was relaxed from 7 am to 11 am on June 19, from 6am to noon on June 20 and then lifted in the Industrial Police Station area on June 21 to monitor the situation with 5am to 2 pm relaxation in other two areas. On June 22, curfew was partially lifted from Sahadevkhunta police station limits from 5 am to 9 pm and areas falling under Town police station area from 5 am to 2 pm. And this continued on June 23 and June 24 when schools, anganwadi centres and colleges twere also reopened in these areas and internet services via landlines, lease lines, broadband, ISPs, and dial-up systems were restored in Balasore municipality area. All types of internet services were fully restored on June 24 amid the continuing restrictions from 5 pm to 5 am.

According SP Sagarika Nath, 91 people arrested and 24 cases registered across three police stations, based on complaints from both sides and CCTV footage.