Bengal: Malls, Restaurants, offices to reopen from June 1 outside containment zones

Kolkata : West Bengal government has announced an extension of lockdown till June 15 in areas marked as containment zones, allowing more relaxations in the areas which are least affected. Hours after the Centre's new announcement, the state government released its new set of guidelines which will come into effect from June 1.

Among the announced relaxations, shopping malls, offices and restaurants have been allowed to operate in the areas outside containment zones. All offices and industrial activities can take place with 100% workforce beyond the “containment areas”.

The Mamata Banerjee-led government had earlier divided the containment zones in three areas – A is the affected area, B is the buffer zone and C is the clean area. From June 1, the lockdown will be enforced only in containment zone ‘A’, while containment zones ‘B’ and ‘C’ will have similar relaxations. The basis of such area division within containment zones has been polling booths in order to reduce the size of the area under lockdown.

“It is necessary to continue to implement the lockdown in the affected areas (containment zones) to contain the spread of Covid-19 and simultaneously open up activities in other areas for socio economic revival,” the government notification issued by the chief secretary on May 30 said.

Intra-state movement of government and private buses has been allowed with passengers not more than the seating capacity of the bus. No passengers will be allowed to travel standing and all passengers must wear masks and gloves.