Cashless payment made mandatory for home delivery in Ahmedabad; AMC issues guidelines

In a major move, home delivery has been made mandatorily cashless in Ahmedabad from May 15 to prevent COVID-19 spread through currency notes. This decision was taken in a meeting in which Municipal Commissioner Mukesh Kumar, Deputy Municipal Commissioners of various zones, and other officials participated. Moreover, all major retail and home delivery agencies such as D-Mart, Osia Hypermart, Big Basket, Swiggy, Zomato, etc. have been directed to conduct 100% screening of their delivery staff.

As per the Home Delivery Protocol issued by the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, no delivery boy shall be recruited from a containment area. Moreover, delivery staff must download the Aarogya Setu app on their phones, use hand gloves, sanitized cap, sanitizer, and follow social distancing norms. Revealing that the novel coronavirus can survive on paper for many days, Gujarat Additional Chief Secretary Rajiv Gupta mentioned that 100 AMC teams shall visit each of the 17,000 retail shops selling vegetables, milk, fruits, groceries to get the online payment app installed in mobile phones and popularise payment through Unified Payment Interface. 

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Strict measures implemented in Ahmedabad

While Gujarat has recorded 8,194 confirmed novel coronavirus cases and 493 deaths, 5,818 of these cases are from Ahmedabad district. Furthermore, 381 deaths have been reported in Ahmedabad. After temporarily assuming charge as the Municipal Commissioner, Mukesh Kumar on May 6 ordered all shops barring for those providing milk and medicines to close down.

This was done for the effective implementation of social distancing to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 infection. The order came into effect from May 7 and remains valid till 6 am on May 15. As per sources, Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani in the virtual meeting with PM Narendra Modi on Monday urged for the extension of the nationwide lockdown. At the same time, he reportedly opined that the lockdown should be limited to the containment zones. 

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