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Partial resumption of work from April 20 in Maharashtra

by Raju Vernekar
0 comment 2 minutes read

IT Correspondent
Mumbai, April 18

The Maharashtra Government has decided to resume work partially, including industrial activity in special economic zones (SEZs) and Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC) areas in 20 districts, (which have recorded few or no COVID-19 cases) from April 20 onwards.
Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that the partial resumption will be subject to strict implementation of lock down rules which will be in force till 3 May,2020. The Government offices will function with 10 per cent staff. The arrangement of buses will be made for the staff.
The partial resumption includes: farming including orchids, coconut, cashew, spices cultivation, poultry, agro-industries, E Commerce companies, community kitchens, employment generation under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, Health services and construction.
Maharashtra has about 230 industrial zones developed by the MIDC. The relaxation will not apply to 12 municipal corporations, which have been declared as red zone. Twenty districts have been identified as posing “least danger” to economic activity because the number of COVID-19 cases are the lowest in these districts.
The government hopes that by relaxing lockdown guidelines, it could facilitate opening up at least 60% of the total 4.5 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) in the State by the end of this month. “As per our information, six districts in the State have zero COVID-19 cases and rest have only one or two cases. There is no harm in keeping all the protocols in place to open up businesses and economic activity here as per the Centre’s guidelines,” Industries Minister Subhash Desai said.
Although district borders will remain closed, arrangements will be made to allow raw material to come in and out of the industrial zones. Industries will be asked to make special arrangement for food and accommodation of the labour while ensuring social distancing needs and passes for them.
Officials of the State Industry Department said it is up to the owners to provide facilities at the plants and factories. “We will help with one time transportation but the owners will have to make arrangements for sanitisers and masks at the site. Various guidelines have been issued, for example, in the bus the workers will have to sit far from each other and follow other protocol during breaks,”..
The government has already announced incentives for the industries, including directives to impose a moratorium on penalties and interests on power bills pending during the lockdown. The lockdown period will not be taken into account while calculating penalties for pending power dues of MSMEs.
In the meanwhile the number of active COVID-19 cases rose to 3320 with 201 deaths in Maharashtra. This included 121 deaths in Mumbai. The number of cured patients stood at  331 patients in the state.

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