Shops selling educational books, electric fans, prepaid phone recharge allowed during lockdown

Shops selling educational books and electric fans, services of bedside attendants of senior citizens and public utilities, including recharge facilities for prepaid mobile phones have been allowed during lockdown period. orders were issued by Home Ministry on Tuesday night after receiving some queries with regard to exemptions of specific services and activities allowed through guidelines issued so far.

home ministry also said bre factories and flour mills located in urban areas can restart operations during ongoing lockdown to combat vel coronavirus outbreak. Shops selling educational books for students and electric fans will be allowed to open during lockdown, which is scheduled to end on May 3.

Bedside attendants and care givers of senior citizens residing in ir homes and public utilities, including recharge facilities for prepaid mobile connection will be allowed to offer services, ministry said in its order. Food processing units such as bre factories, milk processing plants, flour mills, dal mills etc., located in urban areas will be allowed to function during lockdown.

Facilities for export or import such as pack houses, inspection and treatment facilities for seeds and horticulture produce, research establishments dealing with agriculture and horticulture activities have been exempted from purview of lockdown.

Inter and intra-state movement of planting materials and honey bee colonies, honey and or beehive products will also be allowed to function, order said. Forest offices, forestry plantation and related activities, including silviculture operations, are allowed during lockdown. However, ministry me it clear that social distancing for offices, workshops, factories and establishments must be ensured.

home ministry also allowed sign-on and sign-off of Indian seafarers at Indian ports and ir movement for aforesaid purpose as per a standard operating protocol (SOP). It said that change of crew of a ship (seafarers) is an important measure for operation of merchant ships. SOP has been formulated to streamline sign-on and sign-off of Indian seafarers at Indian ports for merchant shipping vessels, ministry ded.

For sign-on, ship owner or recruitment and placement service (RPS) ncy will identify Indian seafarers for joining a vessel. seafarers will intimate ir travel and contact history for last 28 days to ship owner or RPS ncy by email, as per procedure laid down by Director General of Shipping (DGS). seafarer would be examined by a DGS-approved medical examiner, as per guidelines prescribed for this purpose.

At same time, seafarer shall also be screened, and his travel and contact history examined for last 28 days; seafarers found to be asymptomatic for COVID-19 and orwise suitable may be processed for sign-on. local authority in area where seafarer resides will be intimated about his clearance for sign-on and for issue of a transit pass from place of residence to place of embarkation on shipping vessel. transit pass for such movement by ro, for seafarer and one driver, may be issued by government of State or Union Territory where seafarer resides.

For sign-off, master of a vessel, coming from any foreign port, or a coastal vessel from any Indian port, while arriving at its port of call in India, shall ascertain state of health of each person on board vessel and submit a Maritime Declaration of Health to health authorities of port and to port authorities.

In dition, information required by local health authorities of port, like temperature chart, individual health declaration, etc. shall also be provided by master as per directives of health authorities of port. Port health authorities shall grant pratique to vessel prior to berthing as per necessary health protocols. Indian seafarer arriving on vessel would undergo COVID-19 test for confirmation that he or she is negative for infection.

After disembarking and till time seafarer reaches testing facility within port premises, it will be ensured by ship owner that all safety precautions as per standard health protocol are observed. Till time test reports of seafarer are received, y shall be kept in quarantine facility by port or state health authorities. If seafarer is tested as positive for COVID-19, he or she will be dealt with as per procedures laid down by Health Ministry.

For seafarer tested negative and signed off, local authority in area where seafarer disembarks will be intimated about his or her clearance for sign-off, and for issue of a transit pass from place of disembarkation to place of his or her residence. social distancing and or hygiene rms, as per standard health protocol, would be followed by vehicle transporting seafarer to his destination. lockdown was first anunced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 in a bid to combat coronavirus pandemic. It was later extended till May 3.