Coronavirus: UP govt reopens 5,200 industrial units during lockdown

905 flour mills, 419 oil mills and 235 pulses mills were currently functional in the state so that there is no shortage of essential food items

The Uttar Pradesh government has facilitated the reopening of more than 5,200 industrial units engaged in the manufacturing of medical supplies and essential commodities during the ongoing lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Till date, 5,281 industrial units have been restarted in the state after the government proactively resolved their issues pertaining to labour, passes, transport etc. The process of facilitating the early functioning of other plans, which had closed down following the announcement of lockdown last month, continues.

Besides, the nodal committee headed by the state infrastructure and industrial development commissioner (IIDC) Alok Tandon interacted with the management of nearly 30,000 companies and facilitated the payment of wages and salaries totalling more than Rs 400 crore to their labourers for the month of March 2020.

“This is probably the highest quantum of relief to industrial labourers granted in any state under lockdown and other states are keenly following our model,” UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said here this evening saying this process would continue going forward.

Further, he informed 905 flour mills, 419 oil mills and 235 pulses mills were currently functional in the state, so that there was no shortage of essential food items.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus ‘hotspots’ sealed for complete lockdown has now gone up to 133 under 95 police station areas across 15 districts  viz. Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautam Buddh Nagar, Lucknow, Varanasi, Shamli, Meerut, Bareilly, Bulandshahr, Kanpur, Basti, Ferozabad, Saharanpur, Maharajganj and Sitapur.

Of the total 480 coronavirus cases identified in UP so far, 342 cases pertain to these 133 hotspots alone. The state feels the containment of the infection in these hubs is key to fighting the pandemic in the state.

A population of 1.61 million is now under complete lockdown, while the state has identified 157,000 houses in these areas. The authorities have so far quarantined 2,986 suspected cases in these areas.

At the same time, the respective district authorities have started identifying and sealing hotspots under their local jurisdiction and so far 59 such areas under 44 police station areas spanning 25 districts have been ascertained. These hubs account for 75 coronavirus cases.

Meanwhile, the UP Police have lodged 15,378 first information reports (FIR) and booked almost 48,503 persons under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defying the lockdown norms pertaining to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

To strengthen the health apparatus amid the spread of coronavirus, the state has decided to enroll retired doctors who volunteer to offer telemedicine and tele-consulting services to the people, since a major proportion of the state health infrastructure is currently dedicated to controlling the pandemic.

Now, the state has ramped up the daily sample testing capacity to over 1,600 and it is planned to be increased to 2,000 soon.