Kerala Eases Lockdown Restrictions by Opening Barber Shops, Restaurants, Book Stores; Centre Shoots Letter to State Govt for Violating MHA Guidelines

New Delhi, April 20: After Kerala opened several services including restaurants, barbar shops, bus travel in cities amid the ongoing lockdown, the Centre strongly objected the state's move and said it violated MHA guidelines. The government said that Kerala's decision amounts to dilution of its lockdown guidelines that were laid by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) earlier this month. The southern state allowed additional activities like opening of local workshops, barber shops, restaurants, book stores, MSMEs in municipal limits; bus travel in the cities/ towns for shorter distance etc amid the ongoing lockdown.

The Kerala government has allowed opening of activities which are prohibited in the April 15th MHA order. In a letter to the Kerala government, the home ministry said Kerala had on April 17 circulated revised guidelines for lockdown measures which allowed opening of activities which are prohibited in the Centre's consolidated revised guidelines issued on April 15. India Coronavirus Tally Surges to 17,265, Death Toll Jumps to 543.

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Kerala Minister Kadakampally Surendran on Monday defended the state's move to ease restrictions and said the state had given relaxations abiding by directions issued by Centre. "Centre may have asked for an explanation, due to some misunderstanding. Once we give an explanation, I hope the issue will be solved. We followed all norms set by the Centre", he said.

Reports inform that Kerala government has announced relaxation of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in two zones, allowing among others private vehicles movement in an odd-even basis and dine-in services at hotels from Monday.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Apr 20, 2020 10:14 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).