Home Ministry gave 94 orders in 68 days

Home Ministry gave 94 orders in 68 days

Directions sent under Disaster Management Act; States can frame rules based on these guidelines

01/06/2020, VIJAITA SINGH,NEW DELHI

In the 68 days since the nationwide lockdown was imposed to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Home Ministry on an average, issued 1.3 orders a day.

As on Sunday, as many as 94 orders, guidelines, addenda and letters have been issued by the Ministry to the States pertaining to the lockdown.

2005 Act

The orders were issued under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, invoked for the first time in the country since the legislation was drafted after the tsunami in 2004.

The Act also, for the first time, introduced a legal framework for disaster management in the country, with the Ministry being the nodal Ministry. Under the Act, the States and district authorities can frame their own rules on the basis of broad guidelines issued by the Ministry.

On Saturday, it issued another set of guidelines lifting most of the restrictions imposed since March 24 and restricted strict implementation of lockdown measures till June 30 to containment zones where multiple cases have been reported.

The lockdown first imposed on March 24 was extended four times. The fifth phase has been renamed Unlock 1.0 to open up economic activities even as more than 1.75 lakh cases and around 4,900 deaths were reported till Sunday.

Calls to control rooms

The Ministry had also started three control rooms to monitor the complaints received from States and to resolve the migrant crisis. As all modes of public transport were suspended, thousands of migrants have been walking back several hundred kilometres to reach home.

A senior Ministry official said the helplines in the control room had been getting around 600 calls daily in the initial days but gradually the number had come down. After over 50 days into the extended lockdown, the Railways started running Shramik Special trains for the migrant workers.

Meanwhile, the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) are yet to receive orders from the Ministry on what comprises swadeshi or indigenous products. On May 13, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced that CAPF canteens would sell only swadeshi goods from June 1.

A government official said the Commerce Ministry was yet to issue the guidelines defining swadeshi products, though the scheme is to be implemented from June 1. The canteens sell many daily-use products at a subsidised rate to around 10 lakh personnel, their families and those retired.