Relief for non-banking finance firms, tribals in allowed activities after April 20

The Centre in a fresh notification has made new additions to the list of activities that will be allowed from April 20 amid the lockdown in the country.

Under the new guidelines, non-banking finance corporations and micro-finance institutions which have been marked as essential services, can resume work.

Coconut, spices, bamboo, areca nut and cocoa plantations, and forest produce sourced by scheduled tribes have also been added to the list to essential services.

The notification also allows water supply, sanitation, laying of power lines, telecom optical fibres and cables and construction activities to resume in rural areas.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday (April 15) had issued revised guidelines for the second phase of the nationwide lockdown which was extended by the Centre till May 3.

The new guidelines that will come into effect from April 20 have relaxed restrictions in sectors like health, agriculture, transportation, finance, MGNREGA works and e-commerce services.

But these additional activities would be operationalised by states and district administrations based on strict compliance with the existing guidelines on lockdown, the MHA notification said.

The total number of deaths across the country rose to 437 (as of April 17) while the number of active cases crossed 11,000.

(With inputs from agencies)