Lockdown Extended Till May 31, Public Transportation Remain Closed

The Union Government has on May 17 extended the lockdown period May 31, 2020 but ended restrictions on employees returning to work at offices, factories and other industrial units. This was done barely six hours before the expiry of the third round of the Covid-19 lockdown.

Metro services, quite like air travel, will still not be allowed. Shopping malls, cinema halls or other such places having high footfalls will remain closed. The night curfew, which restricts movement of people between 7 pm and 7 am, will continue. Also, people above 65 years of age, pregnant women and children below 10 years have been told to stay at home.

States that want to restart bus services can do so. The lockdown guidelines issued by Union Home Secretary, Ajay Bhalla, also permitted inter-state bus services, provided the states involved give their consent. The Centre has restored the primacy of the states to fight Covid-19, allowing them to decide areas that should be earmarked as Green, Orange or Red Zones. The state governments have also been authorized to decide the restrictions that should be placed in these areas. The state, however, cannot relax activities in containment zones. Here, the home ministry order said, only essential activities would be allowed.

In Delhi, Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal, had told the central government that it was in favor of prohibiting schools, salons, barber shops, cinema halls, hotels and dine-in services at restaurants. Kejriwal, however, wanted the Centre to allow shopping malls.

In his first reaction, Arvind Kejriwal appeared to welcome the central guidelines which he said, were largely in line with the proposal sent by the city government on the suggestions of lakhs of people living in the national capital.

The Delhi government “will prepare the detailed plan for Delhi based on the Centre’s guidelines and announce it tomorrow”, he tweeted, declaring that it was time to relax the restrictions to some extent. Barber shops, parlors and spas will be allowed to open, except in containment zones, while take-away and food delivery services by restaurants will also function.

However, hotels, restaurants, cinema halls, malls, swimming pools and gyms will remain shut. Any social, political or religious functions will not be allowed to take place and places of worship will be closed till May 31, it said.

Shops providing essential commodities have been allowed to open since the beginning of the lockdown while neighborhood shops and stand-alone shops of non-essential items were allowed to open from May 4. Delivery of essential goods by e-commerce companies was allowed earlier too. The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, on March 24 for 21 days in a bid to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.