Maharashtra: Do’s and do not’s of 15-day janta curfew

On Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray issued new guidelines for the people of the state to hold the dangerous rise in COVID-19 cases. Speaking to the state, CM Thackeray forced strict restrictions which will come into effect from 8 pm tomorrow (Wednesday). He said, “Full curfew will be imposed in the state for next 15 days. Section 144 to be imposed in the entire state from tomorrow. I will not term this as lockdown.” The decision was declared following an all-party meeting to discuss the crisis. The lockdown like constraints will be on effect from Wednesday morning and continue till May 1.

What all are allowed or opened:

• From April 14 onwards, only essential services will function from 7 am to 8 pm.
• Hospitals, diagnostic centres, clinics, vaccinations, medical insurance offices, pharmacies, pharmaceutical companies, other medical and health services including helping manufacturing and delivery units along with the dealer’s transport and supply chain fall under the necessary services section. Manufacturing and distribution of vaccines, sanitisers, masks, medical equipment, their ancillaries, raw material units and support services will also be permitted.
• Public transport such as local train and bus services for primary services only will be permitted during the curfew period.
• Petrol pumps, ATMs, pre-monsoon movements by local authorities, all public services by local authorities will be considered as necessary.
• Offices that will fall under the exception category are —central, state and local governments, Cooperative, PSU and Private Banks, Insurance and mediclaim companies, pharmaceutical company offices, RBI regulated entities and intermediaries, all non-banking financial corporations, all micro-finance institutions, offices of advocates if operations of courts are on.
• Offices under exempted category should work with the minimum staff needed and in no case with more than 50% of normal capacity. There should be no visitors to the offices and all meetings with anyone apart from office staff must only be conducted online.
• All offices of SEBI-recognised market support institutions such as Stock Exchanges, depositiories, etc and other intermediaries registered with SEBI will remain open.
• All hotels/ restaurants to remain closed only take-away, home deliveries allowed.
• Cold storage and warehousing services will remain open.
• Groceries, vegetable shops, fruit vendors, bakeries, dairies, confectioneries, all type of food shops will be exempted.
• Services associated with the functioning of offices of Diplomats of various countries will be excused.
• Transport of good, Export-Import services, Agricultural activities will be permitted.
• Veterinary services/ animal care shelters and pet food shops will be excused.
• E-commerce services will be excused only for the supply of essentials goods and services.
• Construction work will be allowed to continue only where labourers are living on site.
• All cargo services, water supply services, electric and gas supply services and postal services will also be considered necessary.
• Units producing raw material/packaging material for any essential services will be excused.
• Any services selected as essential services by local disaster management authority will be exempted from the restrictions.
• Decisions regarding inclusion of domestic help/drivers/attendants to work in the Exceptions Category will be taken by local authorities based on local conditions.
• Newspapers/ magazines/periodicals can be printed and circulated.
• Marriage functions will be allowed only with a maximum of 25 person present.

  What all are permitted or closed:

• Cinema halls, theatres, auditoriums, amusement parks, gyms, sports complexes to be closed.
• Shooting for films, serial, ads to be closed.
• All shops, malls, shopping centres not performing essential services to also remain closed
• All hotels/ restaurants to remain closed for dining.
• All religious place of worship will remain closed.
• No person will be allowed to move in public places without valid reasons.
• Barber shops/ spas/ salons and beauty parlors will remain closed.
• Schools and colleges to remain closed.
• No religious, social, cultural or political functions of any kind will be allowed.
• Any industrial process that is a net consumer of oxygen as a raw material is to be disallowed.

In his speech to the state, Maharashtra CM Thackeray said that his government is continuously improving healthcare infrastructure but they are under pressure. “There is a shortage of medical oxygen, beds and the demand for Remdesivir has also increased,” he said. He also said that he will speak to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant support from the Indian Armed Forces in the supply of oxygen for medical use from nearby states.

The chief minister also said that all workers who are enrolled with the state government labour department will be given Rs 1500 per labour in their bank account by the state. The same advantage to registered domestic workers and vendors, auto drivers as well. He further added that 3 kilos of wheat, 2 kilos of rice will be provided to every poor and needy person for the next one month while coronavirus-induced constraints are in status.

On Tuesday, Maharashtra recorded 60,212 fresh COVID19 cases. Earlier on Sunday, the state had recorded the highest 63,294 infections on Sunday, but the cases fell significantly to 51,751 on Monday, possibly due to a lesser number of tests conducted over the weekend, taking the tally to 34,58,996. The overall death toll in the state is 58,245 as of Monday, as per the state health department.