Lockdown 4.0: Changes After May 18? Here's What Your State Government Is Planning

In his speech on May 12, PM Modi cleared that the nationwide lockdown will continue to be in effect, only with some changes. There will be new rules according to the containment zone you are in. However, what these new rules will be, he didn’t clear.

It looks like the central govt is asking state governments about their plans. And the state governments have different opinions on different rules.

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Last week, PM Modi talked to many State Chief Ministers about their blueprints of the lockdown after May 18. Most of them advised continuing high restrictions in the hot spots while giving some relaxations in the non-contaminated zones. The state demanded from PM Modi to provide them with full authority in flagging contaminated areas- red, orange, and green.

Economic Activities

A majority of the states want their companies and factories to reopen. Delhi, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala suggested resuming all economic activities in the non-contaminated areas.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that he had asked his people about what changes should be made, and the people suggested to resume the economic activities. The two states which are affected by Coronavirus lockdown the most – Maharastra, and Gujarat – have different opinions on opening their economy. Gujarat said that it is in the opinion of resuming all activities in urban zones, while Maharashtra said that the restrictions should remain the same after May 18.

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Most of the states want a ban on e-commerce services like that of Amazon and Flipkart.

Inter-State movements

When it comes to inner state movements, different states have different opinions. Some of them want more restrictions to be put upon inner-state movements, while some want curbs to be lifted. However, almost all of the states voted in opposition to the regular passenger train services.

States said that they would run special trains to bring back their people, but inter-state passenger trains should be avoided for now.

Like trains, states are also opposing the resumption of domestic and international flight services, except some smaller states in the North East which said that they are open to resuming flight services.

Public Transport

When it comes to public transport, states seem to be on the same page. Almost every state suggested that they should resume public transport within their municipal areas.

Kerala, whose economy depends heavily on tourism, said that it is in the opinion of running all services: metro trains, local trains, domestic flights, and restaurants, etc. Notably, Kerala has very few active cases of Coronavirus positive people.

May 18 isn’t far away. It is most likely that you’ll get the new set of rules and regulations within a day or two.

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