More Exemptions To Lockdown List: Shops For School Books, Electric Fans

Lockdown Guidelines: Bread factories, milk processing units in urban areas can restart operations.

Shops for school and college books and electric fans will be allowed during the coronavirus lockdown, which ends on May 3, the government said last evening, releasing a new set of exemptions.

Services of bedside attendants of senior citizens and public utilities like recharge facilities for prepaid mobile phones will also be allowed.

Bread factories, milk processing units and flour mills in urban areas can restart operations.

Facilities for export or import such as pack houses, inspection and treatment facilities for seeds and horticulture produce and research establishments dealing with the agriculture and horticulture activities have also been exempted from the purview of the lockdown.

Inter and intra-state movement of planting materials and honey bee colonies, honey and other beehive products will also be allowed to function, said a home ministry order.  So will forest offices, forestry plantation and related activities.

The ministry stressed that as these activities resume in offices, workshops, factories and establishments, social distancing and other virus cautions must be ensured.

The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 in a bid to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It was later extended till May 3.

The government will also allow sign-on and sign-off for Indian Seafarers at Indian Ports and their movement.

But these activities will be allowed only in parts of the country that are not COVID-19 hotspots or containment zones, the ministry clarified.

The government has allowed limited industrial and economic activities in some areas during the lockdown amid concerns over an unprecedented slowdown and a spike in joblessness.