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Most of the state governments have expressed strong reservations against re-starting international flights during the next phase of lockdown, slated to begin after May 17, according to recommendations sent to the Union Home Ministry as the Centre firms up the contours of Lockdown 4.0.
Sources said that the Centre would come out with its guidelines on the next round of lockdown in the next 24 hours, said sources.
Sources said that almost every state government is against resuming inter-state movement of people during the next lockdown period, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his most recent video address on May 12. The states are also unanimous in their opinion to not begin activities involving crowds, as per sources.
The states are also against resuming the train services in its entirety, sources said.
The state authorities across the country also don’t want the e-commerce activities to begin in the next lockdown period, said sources.
Meanwhile, opinion on resuming domestic flight operations seems to be divided. While larger states have categorically weighed against re-staring domestic flights, smaller states, especially the hilly ones, have called upon the Centre to restart the inter-state flight services. Any resumption on inter-state movement, however, must be strictly monitored by authorities, most of the states have conveyed to the Union Home Ministry.
Most of the states have further demanded relaxations on resuming economic activities.
Further, most of the state governments have asked the Centre to classify the states under different zones, as per the severity of the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, sources said.
