The Tamil Nadu government extended the ongoing lockdown till June 30, albeit with more relaxations that included partial opening up of public transport and allowing more employees at workplaces. The curbs on places of worship, all kinds of religious gatherings, inter-state bus transport and Metro and suburban train services will continue. Tourists entry will remain banned into the hilly Nilgiris district and Kodaikanal and Yercaud towns, while hotels and resorts, except for accommodating health and police personnel and government staff for quarantine purpose, will be closed.
Public transport will resume with reduced buses from June 1 barring in Chennai and adjoining Tiruvallur, Kancheepuram and Chengalpet districts having the highest concentration of COVID-19 cases in the state. Private stage carriers will be allowed to operate in authorised routes.
The government allowed more employees to join work in software firms and private companies, but kept the containment zones out of the purview of any relaxation. It also announced a number of other relaxations, barring containment zones, and these include allowing more employees at the workplaces and permitting showrooms and jewellery shops to re-open. The major relaxation, resumption of public transport, will be implemented from June 1 onwards in six of the eight zones, formed by combining nearby districts, with a slew of guidelines in place. For example, Zone I will have Coimbatore and its nearby districts of Tirupur, Nilgiris, Erode, Karur, Salem and Namakkal in western Tamil Nadu.
As per the guidelines, only 50 per cent of the fleets of buses will be operated that too with a passenger cap of 60 per cent of the seated capacity. There would be no need for people to apply for e-pass to travel within the zones. All kinds of vehicles can ply in these select routes. E-pass will be compulsory for inter-zone and inter-state travel.
Schools, colleges and research institutions will remain shut but online classes would be allowed, he said. The cap of 50 people in weddings and 20 in funerals and bar on opening of malls will also continue. Curbs on cinema theatres, gyms, swimming pools, bars, large community halls, tourist centres, zoological parks and museums shall remain in force as it existed so far.
Source: Revenue and Disaster Management (DM-II) Department, Tamil Nadu
