The Ministry of Home Affairs early Saturday issued an order to all States/UTs, to allow opening of all shops registered under Shops & Establishment Act of respective States/ UTs, including shops in residential complexes, neighbourhood an standalone shops.
“It would be mandatory for all permitted shops to open only with 50 per cent strength of workers, ensure compulsory wearing of masks and strict adherence to social distancing norms,” MHA said in its release.
These Relaxations in Lockdown Restrictions would not applicable in Hotspots/Containment Zones, as well as in single and multi-brand malls.
On April 14, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the lockdown will be extended till May 3. Following this, MHA issued fresh guidelines for the citizens during this phase.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during his address to the nation on April 14 also said that non-hotspot areas would be slightly relaxed after April 20.
To identify the COVID-19 hotspots across the country, the central government has classified 170 districts under Red Zone.
While 207 districts have been listed as non-hotspot, the White Zone, and 353 districts as not affected at all by the pandemic, the Green Zone.
While restrictions would remain in place in the 170 districts flagged under Red Zones or hotspots -- which include districts in prominent cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Nagpur, Pune, Indore, among others.
Some of the White Zone districts include: Gwalior, Kanchipuram, Puducherry, Bareilly, Varanasi, Haridwar and Kalimpong.
Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had recently asked district magistrates to classify their districts into three colour codes — Red, White and Green on this basis of a required criteria.
