Work related to agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, forest, drinking water and e-commerce will be taken up

Set to enter the second phase of the lockdown imposed to fight the COVID-19 outbreak from April 15 to 30, the Odisha government has made relaxations to kick-start activities relating to agriculture, horticulture, fisheries, forest, drinking water and e-commerce.

Announcing modifications in the lockdown guidelines on Monday, State Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said that social distancing norms would be strictly followed while facilitating activities that were related to livelihoods of the people.

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E-commerce activities would function during the extended lockdown period when companies engaged in home delivery of goods and services would be allowed to operate without any hindrance.

Restaurants could carry out home delivery but could not allow people to eat inside. Similarly, dhabas would remain open and people could fetch their food to eat outside.

The SRC said that farmers could resume all agricultural activities, including harvesting, selling their Rabi crops and activities relating to preparing their fields for the coming Kharif season. The shops and establishments engaged in selling agricultural implements, cattle feed, fish feed and food proceeding and packaging would also be allowed to remain open.

The procurement of Rabi crop would be resumed and all cold storages and godowns would be allowed to carry out their activities by maintaining social distancing.

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The farmers could also dig farm ponds and purchase agricultural implements. The cooperatives banks and other such institutions would disburse loans to the farmers during the lockdown period, said Mr. Jena.

Activities relating to MGNREGS, Swachh Bharat and rural housing schemes would go on and the Panchayati Raj Department would also facilitate construction and repair of drinking water facilities.

The people engaged in fishing, floriculture, tendu leaf plucking and collection of non-timber forest produce could carry out their work.

The Forest Department would be allowed to carry out plantation and take up construction and repair of water bodies for wild animals across the State, said Mr. Jena.