Ahead of PM Modi’s address, Odisha announces relaxation of lockdown for livelihood generation

Till Monday, Odisha had reported 55 Covid-19 cases of whom a 72-year old man died and 13 have recovered so far. Only two of the remaining 41 patients are critical.

Odisha, the first state in the country to extend the lockdown to April 30, on Monday, announced several measures to ensure generation of jobs under a flagship scheme and Swachh Bharat.

Odisha was the first state in the country to extend the lockdown to April 30 (Sushil Kumar/HT Photo)

It will also allow e-commerce platforms like Amazon to deliver goods at homes.

Till Monday, Odisha had reported 55 Covid-19 cases of whom a 72-year old man died and 18 have recovered so far. Only two of the remaining 41 patients are critical.

The relaxation order came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi addresses the nation on the possible extension of the nation-wide lockdown, as the number of Covid-19 positive patients in the country raced to 10,000, with more than 300 deaths in less than a month.

Last week, the state government had announced that during the extended lockdown period beginning April 15, farmers in the state will be allowed to undertake farming operations for the Rabi season and also prepare for the Kharif season, on the condition that they ensure social distancing.

According to the order issued by chief secretary Asit Tripathy, marketing and transportation of agricultural inputs, agricultural and horticultural products to markets both intra- and inter-state by retailers and transporters will be permitted without any restrictions.

Farmers will be allowed to resume all agricultural activities, including harvesting, selling their Rabi crops and other activities to prepare their fields for the coming Kharif season.

Shops and establishments selling agricultural implements, cattle feed and fish feed and food processing and packaging units will also be allowed to remain open.

The order said that activities relating to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme, construction of individual toilets under Swachh Bharat Mission and individual houses under rural housing schemes will go on.

The panchayati raj department will also facilitate construction and repair of drinking water facilities. Farmers can also dig farm ponds and purchase agricultural implements.

Cooperatives banks and other such institutions will disburse loans to farmers during the lockdown period. The procurement of the Rabi crop will resume and all cold storages and godowns allowed to carry out their activities, conditional to social distancing.

People engaged in fishing, floriculture, tendu leaf plucking and collection of non-timber forest produce can also carry out their work. The forest department will be allowed to execute plantation and take up construction and repair of water bodies for wild animals across the state.

State Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradeep Jena said that social distancing norms would be strictly followed while facilitating activities that were related to livelihoods of the people.

The relaxation in agriculture and pisciculture came following reports that distressed farmers of Rabi crops like vegetables, were forced to sell their harvest. In several districts, farmers had to either throw away vegetables, a highly perishable commodity or, sell them at very low rates.

Though Rabi crops such paddy, maize and millet have not been damaged, procurement during lockdown had become an uphill task.

Farmer leader Ashok Pradhan of Sambalpur Zilla Krushak Surakhya Sangathan said that the relaxation of lockdown measures was all fine, but that the order needed to be passed down to the lower police functionaries on the ground, as they would be implementing the lockdown.

However, Pradhan said the relaxation would not solve the problem of shortage of farm labourers in districts like Bargarh and Sambalpur, where agricultural labourers from Chhattisgarh come to work.

“As long as the lockdown is in place, there is little scope of people coming from Chhattisgarh. Further, there is no clarity on whether farmers will be allowed to transport their produce to mandis in vehicles,” said Pradhan.

Besides, e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart and Big Basket etc will be allowed to deliver goods across Odisha.

Companies engaged in home delivery of goods and services will be allowed to operate without any hindrance. Restaurants, too, will be allowed to carry out home delivery but cannot allow people to dine at their premises. Similarly, roadside eateries will remain open and people can fetch their food to eat outside.

Meanwhile, Odisha police have proposed to hire around 2400 retired policemen of state and central forces as special police officers for deployment in different districts. They will help maintain proper law and order in different containment zones, as well as trace Covid-19 suspects.

The police force has requested the home department to fill 2394 vacancies of the rank of inspector, sub-inspector, assistant sub-inspector and constables in different districts for a period of at least six months.

Uninterrupted round-the-clock deployment on roads and containment zones is adversely affecting the sensitiveness and morale of the existing manpower, a senior police official said.