States told not to dilute guidelines of Lockdown 4.0

Hyderabad: Lockdown 4.0 began on May 18 and the Ministry of Home affairs, in its recent statement, said that states and Union territories cannot dilute the regulations.

In a communication by Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla to the states’ chief secretaries, he said, “I would like to reiterate again that states/Union territories cannot dilute restrictions imposed vide the aforesaid guidelines issued by the MHA. States/UTs based on their assessment of the situation, may prohibit certain other activities in various zones or impose such restrictions as deemed necessary.”

In his letter, he said the guidelines were revised based on the video conference held between state ministers and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 11.

He further added, “I would urge you to ensure compliance of the new guidelines and direct all concerned authorities for their strict implementation.”

The MHA said that the state and Union territories can categorize the red, orange and green zones taking into clarification the revised guidelines, issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Inside the red/orange zones, containment and buffer zones would be identified by the local authorities, based on local-level technical inputs and health ministry guidelines. No movement will be permitted in the containment zones and a strict perimeter should be maintained only allowing essential services under it, said MHA.

The nationwide lockdown was extended by the National Disaster Management Authority (NMDA) till May 31. Similar to the previous lockdown, movement of essential service providers and stranded will be allowed, while all other transport is restricted, in accordance with the curfew regulations.