‘Economy will collapse if norms not eased’

BENGALURU: Signalling the possibility of chief minister BS Yediyurappa relaxing the lockdown, the Karnataka government on Sunday extended the strict curbs till the midnight of April 21 instead of May 3 — the original date to end the lockdown.Senior government officials confirmed to TOI that a decision has been taken to relax the norms of the lockdown, marking a second Uturn on the move in less than 24 hours. Relaxation of lockdown was first announced and later retracted by the CM within hours on Saturday. The cabinet, at its meeting on Monday, is expected to decide on relaxation of the lockdown norms.“There is no specific reason why the stringent lockdown was extended till April21. There may be a need to review containment zones and safe zones at the cabinet meeting. An order will be issued to relax the lockdown on Monday or Tuesday,” said the official, adding the government wanted to assess the 24-hour impact of withdrawing the lockdown in other states starting from Monday.With two groups in the cabinet making conflicting suggestions, it is said the CM is reportedly in favour of partial lifting of the lockdown at it tries to mitigate economic losses.“You cannot function in an atmosphere of a lockdown longer than this. Our economy could collapse if the norms are not relaxed,” said a minister.The order issued on Sunday asks deputy commissioners, municipal commissioners, police commissioners, superintendents of police and senior bureaucrats to continue the strict conditions till the midnight of April 21.