The Ministry of Home Affairs today announced the fresh guidelines for Unlock 4 plan. Under the guidelines, lockdown in containment zones will be extended in the country till 30 September.
However, local governments shall not impose any local lockdown (State/ District/ sub-division/City/ village level), outside the containment zones, without prior consultation with the Central Government, the government said in a statement.
In a major development, metro rail will be allowed to operate with effect from September 7 in a graded manner, by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MOHUA)/ Ministry of Railways (MOR), in consultation with MHA, the statement said
Schools, colleges, Educational and coaching institutions to remain closed; states and UTs may permit 50% of teaching staff to come to schools for online teaching from Sept 21. Students of Class 9-12 can voluntarily visit schools, with parents’ written consent.
Social, academic, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious, political functions and other congregations will be permitted with a ceiling of 100 persons, from 21 September, it further stated.
There shall be no restriction on inter-State and intra-State movement of persons and goods. No separate permission/ approval/ e-permit will be required for such movements, the guidelines further stated.
However, all activities will be allowed which were earlier permitted by the authorities in the earlier guidelines such as shopping malls, barber shops etc.
Cinema halls, swimming pools, theatres and similar places to remain closed. However open air theatres permitted to open from September 21.
International air travel of passengers will not be allowed, except as permitted by MHA.
India went under a complete nationwide lockdown from 25 March in order to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus in the country. In an attempt to bring back normalcy, the MHA has been issuing a number of guidelines in its Unlock India mission in order to provide relaxations in a graded manner and kickstart the economy.
