BENGALURU: To restart economic activities that have come to a complete standstill due to the lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19, the state government has decided to ease restrictions in some sectors from Thursday.
According to the government order, select additional activities are allowed to mitigate hardship to the public. However, the relaxation in lockdown norms will not apply in containment zones.
From Thursday, food processing industries outside the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities, manufacturing units of essential goods and packaging material, coal production, mines and mineral production and transportation are allowed.
Hotels, homestays, lodges and motels, which are accommodating tourists and persons stranded due to the lockdown, medical and emergency staff, air and sea crew, courier services, government approved Common Service Centres (CSC) at Gram Panchayat level, cold storage and warehousing services, including at ports, airports, railway stations, container depots, individual units and other links in the logistics chain are allowed.
Services provided by self-employed persons like electricians, IT repair, plumbers, motor mechanics and carpenters in local areas too are allowed.
The government also allowed the construction of roads, irrigation projects, buildings and all kinds of industrial projects, including MSMEs, outside municipal corporation limits and all kinds of projects in industrial estates where workers are available on site and not required to be brought from outside.
Metro Rail construction projects within the limits of the municipal corporation, where workers are available on site and not required to be brought from outside, are also allowed from Thursday. Movement of private vehicles with passes for emergency services, including medical and veterinary care, and all personnel travelling with passes to their workplaces is also allowed.
The state government has directed officials that the additional activities permitted shall be implemented after making all necessary arrangements for strict enforcement of the lockdown guidelines.