'Haryana is well prepared': Deputy CM hints at partial restart of economic activities

Haryana Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala expressed confidence that the state will successfully sail through the extended Coronavirus lockdown period, asserting that "Haryana is well prepared". He said the government has met industry representatives to partially restart economic activities to avert large scale layoffs while maintaining social distancing protocols.

Haryana has so far reported 185 cases of COVID-19 of which three patients have died while 29 people have recovered.

"Haryana is well prepared. We have divided the state into three categories — Green, where we don't have a single case; Orange, where we have limited cases; and Red, where we have extra number of cases. We are going to stagger it more now into blocks now from the district-level and then see which are the non-essential industries which should start working now," the Dushyant Chautala said.

He further stated that heavy industries like automobile plants which can provide lock-in facilities where they can house 30% of their employees with all facilities on their own premises and can start work on a daily basis.

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Restarting economic activities

Chautala informed that the government met representatives of CII (Confederation of Indian Industries), ASSOCHAM (Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India) on Sunday while a meeting of state industries department and other bodies were held on Monday to discuss ways to partially restart economic activities. "The labour department is also working on how to get construction sites back to normal on a staggered and a controlled manner."

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Chautala said the administration will plan how to provide essential items to people on spot during the lockdown periods. "We will get our agencies back to normal. Industries will also be helped to regenerate themselves."

When asked about the opening of liquor shops, Chautala said that the state has no plans to open such shops as of today, but it has ordered distilleries to start their functioning at 100% capacity to meet the demand for the production of sanitisers and other disinfectants.

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Coronavirus crisis

So far, India has reported 10,363 cases of COVID-19 and has seen a sharpening of the infection curve in recent weeks. 1,036 patients have recovered from the disease while 339 people have died.  The Coronavirus lockdown, due to end on April 14, has been extended till May 3 by the Modi government given the rise in infections.

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