With Assam under lockdown, CM Sonowal renews appeal for maintaining social distancing to help fight COVID -19: Gauhati HC hearing cases on the video link 

ASSAM Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma have said that there is no question of relaxing lockdown and urged the people to stay indoors till the end of the preventive measure to contain COVID-19 ends on April 14. The State cabinet chaired by Sonowal has approved some relief measures for poor families and relaxation in lockdown for farmers and tea gardens sparking speculations on social media about the precautionary step against Novel Coronavirus. Responding to people queries on social media, the Health Minister said “there was no question of any relaxation given to the general public till the lockdown period is over. All will have to stay at their homes till April 14. CM Sonowal said nationwide lockdown have not been relaxed in Assam by the State government. The lockdown will remain fully in force till April 14 as declared by Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier. The State government, however, is taking steps to ensure availability of essential services and goods to the people, the Chief Minister said while appealing to them to strictly follow the norms of social distancing and make the lockdown successful. The Chief Minister said that the state’s Council of Ministers has formulated and announced an economic package to provide relief to the poor and needy families during the lockdown. The Assam Tribune says Chief Secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna has appealed to the people from Assam stranded outside their home state to remain where they are during the lock down period. ’Necessary arrangement for food, accommodation and other amenities are being ensured in consultation with Government and local administration of the respective states,” he said. Meanwhile, Gauhati High Court has started hearing cases via video conferencing. The Gauhati High Court had recently released a short film titled as ‘Ghore Ghore e-Courts’ to generate awareness about the benefits of the e-Courts services among the common people and legal practitioners. The short film has been directed by documentary filmmaker Dip Bhuyan, produced by the Gauhati High Court and conceptualised by the High Court’s ICT Committee., reports The Assam Tribune. Besides the High Court, the District Judicial Courts of Assam area also taking up urgent matters in this lockdown period along with production of UTPs (Under Trial Prisoners) before the Courts from the Jail premises using video conferencing technology provided under the e-Courts Project. Email services, SMS services, websites of the Courts are also functioning for case-related information. Introduction of e-Filing and Virtual Courts in near the future will be an added advantage in these kinds of situation. (edited by @chakravarty pk with inputs from The Assam Tribune)