New Delhi | Jagran News Desk: As states across India continue to make significant progress in ‘flattening the curve’ of COVID-19 cases despite the number of coronavirus hotspots increasing in some states, such as Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh – the government has decided to add more number of activities to the list of activities allowed from April 20 onward, the period due for relaxation in lockdown measures in the districts where least to no COVID-19 cases will come to the fore during the week.
According to a notification put out by the Ministry of Home Affairs, Construction in rural areas for water supply and sanitation and laying of power lines and telecom optical fibres and cables will also be allowed from April 20 onward.
After continuing the world’s most stringent lockdown (according to Oxford University’s stringency index), the districts across the nation which are not COVID-19 hotspots will start resuming industrial, construction and manufacturing activities – in a bid to revive the economic stimulus with a gradual and step-wise exit from the lockdown in-place at present, to contain the coronavirus pandemic.
Earlier a list of activities such as the movement of cargoes, farming operations, fisheries, plantations, animal husbandry and limited businesses of commercial and private establishments were put under the purview of activities which will be allowed to function from April 20th, These relaxations are based on carefully monitoring of the performance of blocks, districts, states in tackling the coronavirus pandemic during the lockdown period.
"The permitted activities from April 20, 2020 are aimed at ensuring that agricultural and related activities remain fully functional; the rural economy functions with maximum efficiency; employment opportunities are created for daily wage earners and other members of the labour force; select industrial activities are allowed to resume their operations, with adequate safeguards and mandatory standard operating protocols (SOPs); and the digital economy," an earlier order of Ministry of Home Affairs stated.