With the lockdown set to continue at least till May 3, the Jharkhand government has initiated steps to restart work in real estate and some key industrial and sectors as part of its strategy to resume economic activities that have been grounded since March 24 due to the curbs put in place due to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
In tune with the Centre’s advisory on initiating work in different sectors in phased manner from April 20, two key state government departments — industries and urban development — on Saturday wrote to the stakeholders concerned asking them to prepare t0 resume operations.
In a letter to all industrial and trade bodies, industries department director K N Jha granted them permission to begin operations by seeking formal consent from their respective district authorities. Jha asked them to refer to government circulars issued on April 15 on ways to initiate production and prescribed standard operating procedures to be followed to ensure social distancing, workplace hygiene and other norms to prevent the spread of the virus.
Deputy director of the department, Rajendra Prasad, said, “On Friday, we wrote to about two dozen industries from cement , steel and food processing sectors asking them to resume operations while following the norms. On Saturday, we issued a communiqué to all trade and industrial bodies with a clarification that they can do the same by taking consent from their respective district administrations.”
Prasad said the state has given its approval for commencement of operations, but the onus lies on the district administration concerned as they have to evaluate the situation before giving the green signal. He said, “Only the district administrations can monitor whether all the norms are being followed at a particular industrial unit.”
Asked on the nature of industries that are being allowed to commence operation, he said, “All industries included in the central advisory —such as food processing and manufacturing that require continuous operation, export oriented units, mining and cement among others.”
The state urban development has also directed all urban local bodies to allow all real estate developers and companies to resume work from April 20. A department official said, “The department’s secretary, Vinay K Choubey, has issued a directive to all ULB on Saturday asking them to speak with the real estate developers at construction sites wherever in-situ labourers are available to begin operations from April 20.”