E-Paper
Haryana sets the ball rolling for industrial activity in ‘safe’ zones
Will have to raise ₹4,600 crore in April to meet committed expenditure of ₹6,200 crore: CM Khattar
Economic activity in Haryana, including industrial operations, will be set in motion after April 20 in areas declared safe from the coronavirus outbreak.
The state government is keen to start industrial activity to tide over the financial crunch due to dwindling revenue receipts affecting day-to-day governance and forcing it to look for borrowing options.
Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said due to a shortfall in tax collections, the state government will have to make arrangements to raise ₹4,600 crore in April to meet their committed expenditure of ₹6,200 crore — including salaries, pensions, social security pensions, power subsidy and debt servicing.
Centre classifies Haryana’s safe zones
The central government on Wednesday designated the safe and unsafe zones based on the number of Covid-19 cases. The Centre has classified areas reporting large outbreaks (about 80%) as hotspots (red zones), non-hotspots, where cases are reported in lesser number (orange zones), and districts which did not report positive cases (green zones).
A red district can be moved to green category if there is no new case in 28 days. Also, a red district can be moved to the orange zone if no case is reported for 14 days, officials said.
Nuh, Palwal, Gurugram and Faridabad districts, the four hotspot districts in the NCR, where 80% active coronavirus cases were detected, have been marked in the red zone. Ambala and Karnal have been classified as hotspot districts with clusters on the basis of number of cases being reported. Panchkula, Panipat, Sirsa, Sonepat, Bhiwani, Kaithal, Charkhi Dadri, Fatehabad, Hisar, Jind, Rohtak, Yamunanagar and Kurukshetra have been categorised as non-hotspot districts. Only Rewari, Mahendergarh and Jhajjar districts are in the green category, officials said.
Officials said they were in the process of delineating areas declared safe for economic activity as per the Central government’s directive.
State also did preliminary classification
Based on the number of confirmed cases and those under surveillance, the state government had done a preliminary exercise to categorise 69 towns and blocks as red zones, 50 as orange zones and 66 as green zones. “It was a preparatory exercise before the central government issued the criteria. However, we will go with what the Centre has prescribed,” said an official.
“The state government is allowed to resume industries in rural areas outside the municipal limits, open manufacturing and industrial establishments with access control in special economic zones and export-oriented units, food processing industries in rural areas, production units, which require continuous process and their supply chain, industrial estates and industrial townships.
These establishments will make arrangements for the stay of workers within their premises or adjacent buildings and implement standard operating protocol for safety, said an industry department official. The transportation of workers to workplace will also be arranged by the employers while ensuring social distancing, he added.
