The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) announced a few relaxations in the rural area of the State during the nation wide lockdown. The nationwide lockdown is proposed to end on the 7th of May.
On the 30th of April, the Telangana Government directed the district collectors of rural Telangana to ease out the lockdown norms, allowing functioning of informal industries, providing livelihood for the rural people.
However, K. Chandrashekar Rao, the Chief Minister asked the district collectors to take a call regarding the ease, after ensuring safety and social distancing to contain the spread of the Novel Coronavirus.
The functioning of the industries and other factories would only be allowed if they follow social distancing norms, sanitisation and limited manpower.
Industries like brick kilns, stone crushing units, rural repair workshops, beedi making, textiles (read looms), ginning mills and plastic industries could start functioning amid lockdown.
A district collector wished to be anonymous said, “The instructions were part of an attempt to ease out lockdown norms and bring normalcy in rural areas. As (the) majority of COVID-19 positive cases were recorded in urban areas and since they too started declining, it was decided to allow select informal industries to function in order to allow those practicing traditional occupations earn their livelihood.”
Another district collector, who wished to be anonymous said, “Operation of these industries where (a) lot of migrant workers are also involved will discourage them from making any attempt to return to their native States. It will also help us estimate the impact of lifting the lockdown to some extent.”
Meanwhile, 11 districts out of 31 are said to be COVID-19 infection free and majority of cases has been reported in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC.)
The remaining districts have a total of 1,016 cases of the Novel Coronavirus infection with 25 fatalities till the 30th of April.
