On Friday, 17 April, the government gave exemptions to a few more areas amid the nationwide coronavirus lockdown to some parts of the country that are least affected by the virus. In a tweet, the Ministry of Home Affairs listed out the activities that will be allowed after 20 April.
Non-banking financial institutions (NBFCs), including Housing Finance Companies (HFCs) and Micro Finance Institutions (NBFC-MFIs), can resume operations with “bare minimum staff”.
Construction in rural areas of water supply and sanitation and laying of power lines and telecom optical fibres and cables will also be allowed, according to the notification.
Collection, harvesting and processing of minor forest produce, non-timber forest produce by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in forest areas have also been allowed. Also permitted are plantation, harvesting, processing, packaging, sale and marketing of bamboo, coconut, arecanut cocoa and spices.
On Thursday, 16 April, the Centre said that mobile phones, televisions, laptops, clothes and stationery for schoolchildren can be sold on Amazon, Flipkart and Snapdeal, along with groceries and other essential commodities. However, the delivery vans will still need permission to operate.
Recently, PM Narendra Modi extended the lockdown to 3 May to curb the spread of coronavirus.
(IWith inputs from NDTV and PTI)
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