New Delhi, March 25: Ministry of Home Affairs issued a set of additional categories of essential goods and services exempted during this period.
In the new guidelines, the ministry said Reserve Bank of India and RBI-regulated financial markets, pay and accounts officers and field officers of the CAG, petroleum products and supply chain and forest staff are exempted from the purview of the lockdown. Those people handling cargo operations in airports and railway stations, coal mining activities, officers and staff of resident commissioners based in Delhi and customs clearance at ports, airports and land borders are also exempted.
Forest offices staff and workers required to operate and maintain zoo, nurseries, wildlife, fire fighting in forests, watering plantations, patrolling and their necessary transport movement, social welfare department staff for operations of homes for children, disabled, senior citizens, destitute women, widows, observation homes and pensions service are also exempted.
The guidelines listed several services including government and private offices that will be out of bounds during the period while exempting establishments such as hospitals, ration shops, dairies, banks, insurance offices, and print and electronic media. Delivery of all essential goods including food, pharmaceuticals, medical equipment through e-commerce has also been exempted from the purview of the lockdown.
All enforcing authorities to note that these strict restrictions fundamentally relate to the movement of people, but not to that of essential goods.
In guidelines, veterinary hospitals, pharmacies (including Jan Aushadhi Kendra) and pharmaceutical research laboratories, IT vendor for banking operations, banking correspondent and ATM operations and cash management agencies were exempted. Shops for seeds and pesticides data and call centre for government, manufacturing units of essential goods, including drugs, pharmaceutical, medical devices, their raw material and intermediates, coal and mineral production, transportation, the supply of explosives and activities incidental to mining operations were exempted from the 21-day lockdown.
Manufacturing units of packaging material for food items, drugs, pharmaceutical and medical devices, inter-state movement of goods/cargo for inland and exports, cross land border movement of essential goods including petroleum products and LPG, food products, medical supplies were also exempted.
|