States to issue zone-specific norms for extended lockdown

Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh said state specific guidelines based on home ministry’s directive extending the lockdown by two weeks to May 17, even while expanding the range of activities permitted in this period , will be issued on Saturday.

“There will be no restrictions for activities within districts in green zones, while in orange zones too large scale relaxation can be given barring the hot spots. We are also thinking about relaxations to some extent in big cities such as Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur, barring the containment zones,” said Maharashtra health minister Rajesh Tope.

The home ministry’s guidelines prescribe the range of activities allowed in containment areas, and red, orange and green zones. They also empower states to make changes as they deem fit -- as long as the ministry’s restrictions are not diluted.

Kerala and Rajasthan welcomed the Centre’s decision to allow more industrial activity and opening of liquor vends in green and orange zones from May 4. Government officials in the two states said they would come up with social distancing norms for alcohol sale and specific rules for industries on Saturday.

“We welcome concessions given in green and orange zones. The state government will take an appropriate decision according to the new directive,” said Kerala’s revenue minister E Chandrasekharan.

A senior West Bengal government official said a committee of experts has already submitted its recommendations on the lockdown guidelines to the cabinet committee headed by finance minister Amit Mitra.

“The cabinet committee met today to discuss the recommendations. It is expected to brief chief minister on Saturday after which she will announce the lockdown guidelines for the state,”this person added on condition of anonymity.

However, the state was also upset at an increase in the number of red zones. State health secretary Vivek Kumar wrote a letter to union health secretary Preeti Sudan questioning the classification of districts into red, green and orange zones.

“With regard to the presentation made in the Cabinet Secretary’s video conference with the states on April 30, 2020 at 3 pm, as many as ten districts of West Bengal were shown in the red zone. This is an erroneous assessment. Based on the current parameters of the government of India for categorisation of areas for Covid-19, the districts in the red zone are only four… You are requested to kindly bring this to the attention of the officials concerned,” Kumar wrote.

Union health ministry on Thursday released a new list of districts arranged as red, orange and green zones according to the extent of the spread, and the possibility of further spread, of novel coronavirus infection in each of them. Except Bengal, all other states have accepted the reclassification.

Of the 23 districts in the state, Kolkata, Howrah, North 24-Parganas and East Midnapore had so long been tagged as ‘red zone’. The new list elevated six more districts from orange to red zone – Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Malda, South 24-Parganas and West Midnapore. Eight districts remained in the green zone.

Over the past four days, Bengal has witnessed a spike in the number of containment zones, mostly in Kolkata, Howrah and North 24-Parganas. Of the state’s 444 containment zones as of April 30, 406 are in these three districts. Chief secretary Rajiva Sinha repeatedly said that these three districts were the state’s biggest concern and that Kolkata alone accounted for 80% of the state’s total cases of novel coronavirus infection. The state has recorded 795 cases of Covid-19 positives as on April 30.

The Centre has said in the statement issued on May 1 that the classification of districts as ‘red zone’ will take into account the total number of active cases, doubling rate of confirmed cases, extent of testing and surveillance feedback from the states.

“Centre’s decision has been unilateral and arbitrary. They are whimsically changing the criteria. We in the state would make our planning considering four districts as red zone,” said TMC Rajya Sabha MP Santanu Sen, himself a doctor.

BJP national secretary Rahul Sinha said that the Centre’s list had exposed how the Mamata Banerjee government ‘was failing the people of Bengal.’

(With inputs from state bureaus)