The government has taken steps to restart the crucial functions which will help the economy. Among the steps announced as part of Unlock 1, the government allowed reopening of shopping malls, religious places and other establishments, but with conditions.
However, there are many sectors and services which are still under lockdown. The plan is to reopen them in the second phase beginning July.
Here is a look at such services:
Metro trains: The metro services have been shut in Delhi since March 22, on the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced Janta Curfew to give people a glimpse of what was lay ahead. A full-scale lockdown was announced from May 25. While other transport services were allowed as part of the relaxations announced by the government in phases, metro services still remain shut. The last message posted on Delhi Metro’s Twitter handle on May 30 said that services will remain closed for commuters until further notice.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had in its guidelines for ‘Unlock 1’ said that suburban train and metro railway services will remain closed till June 30. Accordingly, all the metro cities have kept these services under suspension. Limited suburban services have been started in Mumbai. These trains are being run for people involved in essential services.
Schools and colleges: The strict lockdown has kept schools and colleges closed too. Many of them moved to the virtual world for teaching and learning activities. A decision on reopening the schools is expected in July; however, the Union HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal had recently said that he doesn’t see these institutions opening before August. The exams, scheduled to be held in March, were also postponed and will now be held after June 30, many school administration, state and central boards have said.
Train services: Though the train services started last month, a full-scale resumption is still awaited. The Indian Railways resumed the train services gradually from May 12, after 51 days of suspension since March 22. It initially started with 15 pairs of trains. The initial services connects New Delhi to Dibrugarh, Agartala, Howrah, Patna, Bilaspur, Ranchi, Bhubaneswar, Secunderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thiruvananthapuram, Madgaon, Mumbai Central, Ahmedabad and Jammu Tawi railway stations.
The railways then increased the number of trains to 100, which translated into 200 return journeys from June 1. The railways has said that it will keep resuming services based on the availability of coaches keeping in mind the 20,000 coaches that have been set aside for Covid-19 care centres.
The nationwide lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days in a bid to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
It was first extended till May 3 and then again till May 17. The lockdown was further extended till May 31.
It is now restricted only in containment zones across the country and will continue till June 30. A large number of social, economic, religious and sports activities are currently allowed to function.
