The Government of Kerala has allowed opening of activities which were prohibited by the Centre when it announced a country-wide lockdown for COVID-19 on March 25, says a letter from the Union Home Ministry to state chief secretary Tom Jose.
"Such additional activities allowed by GoK, inter alia, includes opening of local workshops; barber shops; restaurants; book stores; MSMEs in municipal limits; bus travel in the cities / towns for shorter distance (upto 60 km); two passengers in the back seat of four wheeler; pillion riding on scooters," the letter says. It amounts to dilution of guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs and violation of MHA order dated April 15, the Centre has told Kerala.
The disagreement is regarding revised guidelines issued by Kerala on April 17 for the containment activities of COVID-19 in the state. The order mentions that barber shops can open on Saturday and Sunday without AC, with only two people allowed to wait a time. It also says that restaurants can open dine-in services till 7 pm and take-away till 8 pm in Green and Orange-B zones. The state has been divided into four zones, depending on the number of COVID-19 cases in different districts and some relaxations are allowed in those zones where the number of positive cases had drastically reduced.
The new relaxations which come into effect starting April 20 also allows two passengers in the back seat of a four wheeler and pillion riders in cases where both persons belong to a family. It also says bus travel for a short distance within a city / town maybe permitted while inter district public transport will continue to be banned.
However, the letter from MHA says that by providing these relaxations, Kerala has gone against the clauses in the April 15 order, which says that state governments shall not dilute these guidelines under the Disaster Management Act, 2005 in any manner while they may impose stricter measures as per requirement.
However, Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose said that all the decisions were taken after informing the Centre. He spoke with the union home secretary the night before and spoke in detail about the relaxations, Tom Jose said. He has also replied to the letter from the MHA, the chief secretary said.
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