DEHRADUN: In a new set of guidelines under Unlock 2.0 released on Thursday, Uttarakhand state government has further relaxed norms for very important persons (VIPs) from the central and state government, judiciary, legislative members, pregnant women and senior citizens from institutional quarantine.
The guidelines stated, "Ministers of Government of India, ministers of state government, chief justice and other judges of Supreme Court and High Courts, other judicial officers of district and subordinate judiciary of the state, advocate general, chief standing counsel and other government advocates in the High Court of Uttarakhand, member of parliament and member of the legislative assembly of the Uttarakhand, all officer of the government of India, state government, PSUs, Central or state government organisations, along with their support staff shall be exempted from being quarantined."
However, in the guidelines, it was stated that these 'exempted' individuals will ensure compliance of all norms of safety and social distancing according to norms defined by the central government.
The guidelines also provided relaxation to pregnant ladies, seriously-ill people, senior citizens above the age of 65 years or those accompanied by children below 10 years of age from institutional quarantine and permitted to stay in home quarantine for 14 days.
In a big relief to the tourism sector, all hotels, bed and breakfast, homestay and hospitality services are now allowed to open in the state except for those in containment zones.
According to the guidelines, the hotel management will ensure that bookings for people from other states are made for a minimum of seven days. No restrictions will be put on people regarding minimum days of stay who undergo RT-PCR test from a lab authorised by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) with a negative report, 72-hours before arriving at the concerned hotel or hospitality service.
Hotels outside containment zones will also be allowed to serve liquor only in room service and opening of bars will not be allowed.
People arriving from other states and union territories will not need permission for such movement though but will have to register themselves on state government portal-http://smartcitydehradun.uk.gov.in.
The registration documents of those visiting the state will be verified at border check posts by the state police.
Apart from this, those arriving to Uttarakhand from non-high load virus-infected cities shall be home quarantined for 14 days while those from high load virus-infected cities will have to undergo a period of seven days of institutional quarantine and home quarantine each.
However, they will have the option of choosing a government (non-payment basis) quarantine centre or paid quarantine facility.