NEW DELHI: Ruing that Delhi’s economy was in doldrums, revenue collection at rock bottom and there was almost no money to pay salaries to government staffers, CM Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday said it was time to relax lockdown in the city. He appealed to the Centre to let the containment zones remain sealed and make the rest of the city — now fully a ‘red zone’ — a ‘green zone’ and allow markets to reopen from Monday.
“When all economic activities are shut and revenue generation has stopped, how do we give salaries? How do we run the government?” Kejriwal said at a digital press conference.
Reasoning that the coronavirus was here to stay, he said, “We will have to adapt and prepare to live with corona. And Delhi is ready for it.”
He suggested that the Centre could let shops function on an odd-even basis. “We hope if Delhi markets reopen, the economy will also open. Some cases of coronavirus will increase, but we are prepared to tackle them,” the CM said, adding Delhi had enough PPE kits and proper arrangements at hospitals if there was a spike in the number of positive cases.
No public transport, but you can take out your car
From Monday, Delhi government has allowed movement of people for all non-essential works between 7am and 7pm, besides opening of all private offices with 33% staff and let self-employed people such as domestic helps, sanitation workers, technicians, mechanics, plumbers and electricians to operate.
Though the guidelines issued by the Centre says the RWAs will decide if the maids are allowed in a residential colony, there was no such restriction imposed by Delhi government, an official said. “If there are instances that the RWAs are not allowing despite residents wanting the maids to work, the government may intervene,” another government official said.
While public transport, including Metro and buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws won’t ply, people can move around alone on two-wheelers and with two passengers in a car. All standalone shops and those located in the neighbourhood and residential complexes dealing in essential or non-essential commodities, including liquor, pan, gutkha and cigarettes, would also be allowed to function, the CM said. About 150 government-run liquor shops can remain open between 9am and 6.30pm.
All factories in industrial areas with access control have also been permitted along with most commercial and private establishments, including IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, warehouses, cold storage, private security and facility management services. Industrial units manufacturing IT hardware, packaging material apart from essential commodities will continue to function.
The government has also allowed sub-registrar offices to function where people can go with prior appointments, apart from all government offices engaged in essential services with 100% staff and others with limited number of junior cadre officials and personnel. State officials said these relaxations were in accordance to the national guidelines issued by the Union home ministry on Friday.
With virtually no source of revenue generation, Delhi government barely managed to collect about Rs 350crore in April, which was just 10% of Rs 3,500 crore collected in the first month of last fiscal. Reading out the list of relaxations the Centre has permitted in red zones, the CM accepted that there would be some increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases and Delhi was prepared to deal with them.
Kejriwal said the government had used the one-and-a half month of lockdown period to strengthen its capacity to deal with the corona cases and the city was now prepared if the lockdown was opened.He added that it was important to implement a complete lockdown in March to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
A sources said about 150 shops run by four different government corporations in different parts of the city might also open from Monday.
“When all economic activities are shut and revenue generation has stopped, how do we give salaries? How do we run the government?” Kejriwal said at a digital press conference.
Reasoning that the coronavirus was here to stay, he said, “We will have to adapt and prepare to live with corona. And Delhi is ready for it.”
He suggested that the Centre could let shops function on an odd-even basis. “We hope if Delhi markets reopen, the economy will also open. Some cases of coronavirus will increase, but we are prepared to tackle them,” the CM said, adding Delhi had enough PPE kits and proper arrangements at hospitals if there was a spike in the number of positive cases.
No public transport, but you can take out your car
From Monday, Delhi government has allowed movement of people for all non-essential works between 7am and 7pm, besides opening of all private offices with 33% staff and let self-employed people such as domestic helps, sanitation workers, technicians, mechanics, plumbers and electricians to operate.
Though the guidelines issued by the Centre says the RWAs will decide if the maids are allowed in a residential colony, there was no such restriction imposed by Delhi government, an official said. “If there are instances that the RWAs are not allowing despite residents wanting the maids to work, the government may intervene,” another government official said.
While public transport, including Metro and buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws and cycle-rickshaws won’t ply, people can move around alone on two-wheelers and with two passengers in a car. All standalone shops and those located in the neighbourhood and residential complexes dealing in essential or non-essential commodities, including liquor, pan, gutkha and cigarettes, would also be allowed to function, the CM said. About 150 government-run liquor shops can remain open between 9am and 6.30pm.
All factories in industrial areas with access control have also been permitted along with most commercial and private establishments, including IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres, warehouses, cold storage, private security and facility management services. Industrial units manufacturing IT hardware, packaging material apart from essential commodities will continue to function.
The government has also allowed sub-registrar offices to function where people can go with prior appointments, apart from all government offices engaged in essential services with 100% staff and others with limited number of junior cadre officials and personnel. State officials said these relaxations were in accordance to the national guidelines issued by the Union home ministry on Friday.
With virtually no source of revenue generation, Delhi government barely managed to collect about Rs 350crore in April, which was just 10% of Rs 3,500 crore collected in the first month of last fiscal. Reading out the list of relaxations the Centre has permitted in red zones, the CM accepted that there would be some increase in the number of Covid-19 positive cases and Delhi was prepared to deal with them.
Kejriwal said the government had used the one-and-a half month of lockdown period to strengthen its capacity to deal with the corona cases and the city was now prepared if the lockdown was opened.He added that it was important to implement a complete lockdown in March to prevent the coronavirus from spreading.
A sources said about 150 shops run by four different government corporations in different parts of the city might also open from Monday.
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