Dimapur, April 23 (EMN): The Nagaland state government on April 23 has announced relaxation of restrictions on a number of major economic activities in the state.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced most businesses in the country to shut shop.
A press release from the office of the Nagaland chief secretary on Thursday informed that a number of activities—mostly pertaining to industries, utilities, construction and research—have been permitted to resume with immediate effect.
This comes at a time when the country's total Covid-19 cases have risen to 21,393 along with 681 deaths at the time of writing this story, but the state's active measures to prevent the spread of the virus within its borders have been largely effective with zero positive cases of Covid-19 being reported —albeit one case which is currently being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research.
List of permitted activities
- Food processing industries in the rural areas that are outside the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities.
- Industries operating in the rural areas, including stone crushers, sawmills, brick kilns that are outside the limits of municipal corporations and municipalities.
- Collection, harvesting, and processing of minor forest produce (MFP) / non-timber forest produce (NTFP) by Scheduled Tribes and other forest dwellers in the forest areas.
- Bamboo, coconut, Areca nut, cocoa, spices plantation and their harvesting, processing, packaging, sale, and marketing.
- Construction activities in the rural areas to include, water supply, and sanitation; laying/erection of power transmission lines and telecom optical fibres and related activities.
- The functioning of research establishments dealing with agriculture and horticulture activities.
- Inter and intrastate movement of planting materials and honeybee colonies, honey and other beehive products.
- Shops for educational books for students.
- Shops for electric fans.
- Recharge facilities for prepaid mobile connection.
- Functioning of food processing units such as bread factories, milk processing plants, flour mills etc. located in the urban areas.
However, the government has advised that lockdown measures such as national Covid-19 directives and standard operating procedure for social distancing for offices, workshops, factories, establishments and farms must be ensured during the activities.