Lockdown guidelines being violated: MHA warns states again

The Union home ministry on Thursday sent yet another warning to states, after the Central ministry received reports of lockdown violations across the country.

While this is the second time this week that the ministry has warned states against diluting lockdown guidelines, Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla reiterated on Thursday that the "guidelines should be strictly implemented and all authorities need to ensure the same."

While the Union government had earlier forbidden any non-essential movement in Red zones, it has once again reiterated that within red and orange zones, “containment and buffer zones will be demarcated by the district authorities."

Bhalla also reiterated that even though containment zones will be restricted to only essential services, along with strict perimeter control, states needed to continue aggressive contact tracing and house-to-house surveillance in containment zones.

However, keeping with its latest guidelines, the Centre has stated that the curfew which is being observed from 7pm to 7am, wherein no movement was permitted, will continue to remain strictly in force across the country.

Earlier this week, the Union government extended the nationwide lockdown to 31 May, with significant relaxations in all economic activities, the Union home ministry has now turned up the heat on states, warning them against circumventing any lockdown norms.

In a letter written by Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla to states, on Monday, the Union home ministry stated that the current lockdown guidelines have been “issued in supersession to earlier lockdown orders,” with the exception of standard operating procedures that dictate the movement of migrants and Indians stranded abroad.

While the Centre stated that the lockdown measures have been restructured based on the views of state governments following a meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 11 May, the home secretary has categorically told states that they “cannot dilute restrictions imposed” through the existing guidelines of the MHA.