Public transport would be partially resuming in West Bengal from Thursday with the Mamata Banerjee administration further relaxing Covid-19 restrictions.
The state government has extended the Covid-19 restrictions till July 15 while allowing buses to ply with 50% capacity and relaxing restrictions further for shops and offices.
“The government has allowed government and private buses to run with 50% seating capacity along with other modes of public transport, such as auto-rickshaws, cabs, trams and inland waterways. Local trains and Kolkata Metro would, however, continue to remain suspended,” said an official.
Gyms, beauty parlours and salons will also resume operations from Thursday. While salons and beauty parlours would remain open from 11am to 6pm with 50% capacity, gyms may remain open in two shifts from 6am to 10am and again from 4pm to 8pm.
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Private offices have also been allowed to operate with 50% workforce. Earlier, the state government had allowed them to operate with 20% workforce. Government offices are operating with 25% workforce.
More relaxations have been given to local markets, allowing them to remain open from 6am to 12pm. All other shops may remain open from 11am to 8pm, said a government official.
The state government had imposed several restrictions from May 16, when the daily count of Covid-19 cases had crossed the 20,000 mark. After around one-and-a-half months of restrictions, West Bengal reported less than 1,500 new cases on June 30.
“When the assembly elections had started (on March 27), the positivity rate was around 3%. We had requested the Election Commission of India to club the last few phases. But our requests were not heard. When the polls came to an end on April 29, the positivity rate had shot up to more than 32%. We have been able to bring it down to around 3% now,” Mamata Banerjee, the chief minister, had said while speaking to the media earlier this week.
The state government has already allowed restaurants and shopping malls to reopen with a cap on the number of customers. Banks have also been allowed to remain open from 10am to 2pm. Schools and colleges continue to remain shut.
“The ban on night time activities from 9pm to 5am will continue. Relaxations have been allowed to see how things go. We would take a call depending on the situation,” said a senior government official.
Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/kolkata-news/covid19-more-relaxations-in-place-from-today-in-west-bengal-101625111184834.html
