Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a meeting with the top ministers and officials in the government to discuss an exit plan post lockdown, which is due to end on May 3.
Home Minister Amit Shah, Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri and Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba were among those who attended the meeting.
Earlier on Monday, PM Modi had assured that the economy is in ‘good condition’ even amid the lockdown and also indicated that the lockdown may extend in worst coronavirus affected parts of the country.
Today’s meeting comes in the backdrop of Government finalising the list of containment zones and dividing the states and districts into different categories according to the COVID-19 situation in these areas.
As per the list, 130 districts fall under the Red Zones, 284 in the Orange Zones and 319 in Green Zones.
Consulting the state governments and the chief secretaries of the states, the health ministry has decided to put all metro cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, in the Red Zone. The Red Zone cities also include Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad.
Meanwhile, the Government has said that new guidelines to fight Coronavirus will come into effect from May 4, which shall give considerable relaxations to many districts.
Also, the Centre has allowed the movement of students, migrant workers, pilgrims, tourists and others stranded at various places due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown that is in place to fight the Coronavirus pandemic.
The Government on Wednesday issued an order to all the States and Union Territories to facilitate Inter-State movement of stranded people including migrant labourers in the country.
Subsequently, a special non-stop train left Telangana for Jharkhand early Friday morning on request of the Telangana government carrying 1,200 migrant workers.
This is the first such train service to have taken place after the lockdown to move stranded migrants.
Another special train carrying 1200 people will reportedly depart tonight from Kerala’s Kochi to Odisha’s Bhubaneswar. According to Additional Chief Secretary, Dr Vishwas Mehta, “Five more trains are being allowed but their destinations are yet to be decided.”
Meanwhile, all domestic, international flights have been suspended till May 3. However, it is expected that the Government will give certain relaxations to the aviation sector post lockdown.