Only stand alone shops in rural areas of Assam in green & orange zones to open: Assam Cabinet

April 27: A meeting of Assam Cabinet was held in Guwahati on Monday. The issue of relaxation during the ongoing nationwide lockdown came up for discussion in the prolonged meeting. After the cabinet meeting, Cabinet Minister of Transport, Industry & Commerce, Parliamentary Affairs, Chandra Mohan Patowary briefed the media. He said that during the ongoing Lockdown 2.0, only stand alone shops in rural areas in green zone will be opened. He also mentioned that ‘haat’ & ‘bazar’ in the rural areas will remain closed. The orders will come into effect from 28 April, 2020.

Patowary, while citing an example said, “As for instance, in a particular area, like a ‘chowk’ (round about), where say for instance, there are 100 shops. So such areas will be treated as market areas and will remain closed.” No decision was taken regarding opening of shops in urban areas. It was informed that the issue of urban areas will be reviewed on 3 May, 2020. However, it was also mentioned that even rural shops in green zones, but within 5 km boundary of red zone will not be allowed to open.

“Lockdown will be strictly observed in 5 districts of Assam, which are- Dhubri, Goalpara, Nalbari, Morigaon and Golaghat. These districts are in red zone, ” said Mr. Patowary. As regards inter-district movement, the minister said that many have applied and availed the facility, but there were far more who as of now have not been able to connect ‘104.’ In this connection, the cabinet has decided that the inter-district movement by ASTC buses or by own vehicles after getting permission from the Deputy Commissioners will be allowed till 2 May, 2020.

The minister further said that Assam government will not take any independent decision as regards lockdown. He said that the state government will abide by the decision of the central government in this regard.

Only stand alone shops in rural areas in green and orange zones (except containment areas) will open. No Bazar or haat will open. For urban areas, it will be reviewed on 3 May. No rural shops in 5 km of boundary of Red Zone will be allowed.

— Kumar Sanjay Krishna (@KrSanjayKrishna) April 27, 2020

Meanwhile, Kumar Sanjay Krishna, Chief Secretary, Assam also tweeted a similar information. He wrote, “Only stand alone shops in rural areas in green and orange zones (except containment areas) will open. No Bazar or haat will open. For urban areas, it will be reviewed on 3 May. No rural shops in 5 km of boundary of Red Zone will be allowed.”