It is not yet known when more people will come to work. (File)
New Delhi:
Maharashtra has re-issued detailed guidelines sent by the Center to be followed in government offices for staff, which include mandatory heat testing, use of disinfectants and social distancing. The guidelines made it clear that maximum use should always be made of online systems, electronic filing, to minimize social contact.
Most state government offices – which have the highest number of coronavirus cases – operate with a greatly reduced workforce. In green areas, which have no coronavirus cases, around 33% of people use the office. The percentage of people in the red zones, who have the maximum number of cases, can be as low as 5%.
It is not yet known when more people will come to work. But in his monthly speech in Mann ki Baat today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi stressed the need to be more careful as the economy opened up. “A large part of the economy has opened up and it is time to be more careful,” said the Prime Minister.
The Maharashtra government has yet to announce the easing plans it plans to allow starting June 1.
Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar had a 40-minute meeting last night to plan the way forward for the state.
Sources said they decided to allow industries and electronic commerce, including non-essentials, outside the containment zones, even in Mumbai and Pune.
Yesterday – one day before the end of the current lockdown phase – the Center extended the national lockdown until June 30 with a phased plan to unlock the country.
While markets have opened and transport – rail, road and air – has resumed, from June 8, malls, hotels, restaurants and places of worship can open, except in areas with the most large number of cases of coronavirus.
All activities banned earlier will open in phases, the interior ministry said in the new guidelines.
