Lockdown exit plan will seek to sustain gains: Officials

New Delhi: India’s top leadership is working on a careful strategy to lift the lockdown without losing the gains that have been achieved through the stringent nationwide shutdown, said a senior government official. “Imposing a lockdown is very easy — you stop everything,” he said. “However, opening a lockdown is difficult. The mindset of the system also has to change. There is no formula for that.”

The Centre is monitoring various challenges related to resumption of economic activities on a day-to-day and case-to-case basis, he said. One key obstacle is economic hubs being located in red zones, where the disease needs to be curbed.

Centre Keeping Watch

The three-week lockdown imposed on March 25 was extended to May 3 as India seeks to control the coronavirus outbreak.

“We have divided the country into zones — hotspots and non-hotspots — and permitted economic activity in the second zone,” the official said. “Even as we try and do our best to resume operations, the economic activity hubs are where the hotspots are and they can only be opened once they shift to the other side.”

The Centre has been keeping a close watch on state and district-level administrations and trying to assist them as well as helping businesses to resume operations.

But many issues on the ground need to be resolved. “In starting rural activities, there are issues such as taking permissions from district magistrates,” the official said. “In Gujarat, they have permitted many industries. On a daily basis, they have given permission… but some industries can’t be started with depleted labour strength.”

Giving an example of speedy government reaction to resolve industry’s grievances, the official cited fears expressed by owners and managers of business units of police action in case a worker is found to be Covid positive. “So, we clarified on the fact check portal, then we tweeted from the official handle,” he said.

The government has reached out to industry leaders and asked them to communicate the message that no penal action will be taken against proprietors, managers and supervisors if a worker tests positive for the disease, said people aware of the matter.

Availability of labour is a key issue, with movement of workers being a big challenge, said the official. A decision on the post-May 3 scenario, including inter-state movement, will be taken closer to the date based on data provided by health authorities, government officials said. As and when this happens, the movement of people will have to be allowed in a phased manner.

“There are people, especially students, who are stranded; then there are labourers, and so on. We obviously don’t want a sudden rush of people like we saw at the Anand Vihar bus depot in Delhi. So we are working on how to ease the movement of people,” said the official.

The infection numbers are better than initial projections, he said. “The graph is not very alarming on the health side. India is in a much better position than what was predicted by our health authorities,” the official said.