india

Updated: Apr 27, 2020 19:31 IST

Guwahati: The Assam government on Monday decided to allow stand-alone shops in rural areas to open and also continue with inter-district transportation of people stranded due to the lockdown.

The decisions were taken in a cabinet meet held on Monday afternoon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s video conference with chief ministers.

“Only stand-alone shops in rural areas in green and orange zones (except containment areas) will open. No ‘bazaar’ or ‘haat’ (market places) will open,” Assam chief secretary Kumar Sanjay Krishna tweeted.

Of the 33 districts in Assam, 5 districts-Golaghat, Nalbari, Marigaon, Dhubri and Goalpara in the red zone.

While the shops in rural areas will be allowed to open from Tuesday, decision on allowing shops in urban areas to operate will be taken only after May 3 when the ongoing lockdown period ends.

Parliamentary affairs minister Chandra Mohan Patowary informed that shops within a radius of 5km around the boundary of districts declared as red zones also won’t be allowed to open.

“Areas within that radius even if they fall in a green zone will continue to follow the rules meant for red zones,” Patowary said.

He informed that the ongoing relaxation for interdistrict movement of people stranded across the state due to the lockdown will get extended till May 2.

Since April 25, Assam State Transport Corporation has been transporting people across the state in buses free of cost. While 41,000 people had registered to avail the service, till Monday, 27,000 had travelled to their respective destinations. The service was launched initially for 3 days, later it was extended till April 30.

“Some people have not been to avail the service yet and we are getting lots of requests from the districts to extend the date. Hence the cabinet decided to extend the date further till May 2,” he said.

Patowary added the ongoing lockdown measures for districts in the red zone will continue to be strictly enforced.

Assam has recorded 35 Covid-19 positive cases till date. While one patient has died, 27 have been discharged from hospitals and 7 are still recovering.

Meanwhile, chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for journalists in the state who are involved in covering the Covid-19 pandemic amid the lockdown.