Don’t stop inter-state movement of people, goods: Centre tells states

There should be no restrictions imposed on inter-State and intra-State movement of persons, goods and services during the present prevailing Unlock-3 guidelines, Centre directed the States on Saturday.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in a communication to Chief Secretaries of all States stated that it has been reported that local level restrictions on movement are being imposed by various districts or States.

“Such restrictions are creating problems in inter-State movement of goods and services and are impacting the supply chain, resulting in disruption of economic activities and employment, besides affecting supply of goods and services,” the MHA said in a statement.

“Such restrictions at local level imposed by District Administrations or by States, amount to violation of the guidelines issued by the MHA under the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005,” it said.

Drawing attention to the MHA’s Order dated July 29, 2020 specifying Guidelines for Unlock-3, the communication reiterated that there shall be no restriction on inter-State and Intra-State movement of persons and goods. No separate permission/ approval/ e-permit will be required for such movements. This includes movement of persons and goods for cross land border trade under Treaties with neighbouring countries.

The number of covid-19 cases continue to rise in India as the country is currently under Unlock 3.0 phase. India on Saturday recorded around 70,000 covid-19 cases in last 24 hours making the total tally crossing 3 million and toll reached 56254.

In a positive development, India’s daily tests crossed the milestone of 10 lakh tests per day with 10,23,836 tests done in last 24 hours. With this achievement, the cumulative tests are more than 3.4 crore (3,44,91,073).

India also recorded highest ever single day recoveries of 63,631 in the last 24 hours.

While the Recovery Rate reached 74.69%, the Case Fatality Rate, stood at low of 1.87% on Saturday.

India’s total recoveries now exceed the total active cases (6,97,330) by more than 15 lakhs.