KATHMANDU, JUNE 7
The government has started doing groundwork to gradually relax or change the modality of the ongoing prohibitory orders to ease people's movement and bring back normalcy from mid-June.
Most of the districts in the country have imposed prohibitory orders to contain the rapid spread of the second wave of coronavirus from the month of April.
The home ministry, considering the difficulties faced by the public due to the extended lockdown, has started holding talks with various ministries and representatives of all 77 districts.
Officials at the ministry told THT that they would relax the prohibitory order phase-wise to make sure that the situation remains under control.
The ministry will first allow the movement of people related to agriculture as the monsoon season is approaching, and the entire nation will be engaged in paddy cultivation, the country's major food produce.
"We will first prioritise the movement of farmers and people from other sectors, which are directly or indirectly related to farming," said Khumkanta Acharya, under-secretary at the ministry.
Apart from this, the ministry will also ease movement related to construction work and other informal sectors, allowing daily wage earners to earn their livelihood. Currently, all sectors except emergency services and daily essential supplies have been closed.
Most of the districts have already extended the prohibition order until mid-June.
As coronavirus cases have slowly started declining for the past one week, the government is likely to take a decision to ease the curbs.
"As we all know the prohibition order is not our choice but our compulsion, we will have to ease the situation if COVID-19 cases continue to drop significantly," Acharya said. He, however, added that the plan could change if the present health crisis deepens.
Chief District Officer of Kathmandu Kali Prasad Parajuli said the recent decision to relax the restriction was a clear sign that the curbs would be further eased in the coming days. He, however, said that people would not be allowed to violate safety health protocols this time.
The federal government has given power to the CDOs to call for full or partial prohibitory order if there are more than 200 active cases in the district.
A version of this article appears in the print on June 8, 2021, of The Himalayan Times.
