In
the last one week several companies have had to face the hurdle of making a
distinction between what’s essential and what’s not.
To
help them the government has now clarified that grocery would include hygiene
products such as hand wash, soaps, disinfectants, body wash, shampoo, surface
cleaners, detergents, tissue paper, toothpaste, oral care, sanitary pads, diapers,
chargers and battery cells, etc.

IMAGE: A truck loaded with onions reaches
Azadpur Mandi in New Delhi during the 21-day lockdown against
coronavirus. Photograph: Rahul Singh / ANI Photo.
The Union government on
Friday asked states to take immediate measures to ensure a free flow of
essential items and keep the supply chain going.
In a letter to chief
secretaries of all states, Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla clarified what
constituted food and grocery and the exemptions during the nationwide lockdown,
while easing the norms for issuing curfew passes and truck movement to help
remove the supply chain hurdles.
The
objective was to clear the ambiguities at the ground level, an official
said.
In
another letter, Bhalla reiterated that exceptions allowed for the agriculture
sector must be communicated to all field agencies for smooth harvesting and
sowing operations.
“At the ground level,
different interpretations are being made on the items given exceptions, which
hinder a smooth flow of supply chain of these essential items,’’ Bhalla said in
the letter reviewed by Business Standard.
Referring to queries
received by the government on what constitutes food and grocery, he said,
“Since it is neither feasible nor desirable to mention each item of food and
grocery in the guidelines, the state/union territory governments are advised to
interpret these terms to mean all items of food and grocery that are usually
consumed by people on day to day basis.’’
The government has,
however, clarified that grocery would include hygiene products such as hand
wash, soaps, disinfectants, body wash, shampoo, surface cleaners, detergents,
tissue paper, toothpaste, oral care, sanitary pads, diapers, chargers and
battery cells, etc.
In the last one week,
several companies have had to face the hurdle of making a distinction between
what’s essential and what’s not.
On the difficulty faced by
businesses in getting curfew passes despite production, warehousing and
transport of essential goods being in the “exception” list, states/UTs have now
been told to give out authorisation letters to companies/organisations having
nationwide supply chains. This is expected to help these businesses get
regional passes for easy movement of critical staff and workers to maintain
their national supply chain.
“The number of such
authorisation should be kept to bare minimum,’’ according to the letter.
Currently, companies
including e-commerce firms have to follow different rules for each state and
even city, making it tough to do business efficiently.
As cargo movement by
railways, airports and seaports is also not easy during the lockdown period,
the Centre has asked “designated authorities under railways, ports and airports
to issue passes for a critical mass of staff and contractual labour” essential
for such operations.
Addressing the issue of
trucks full of essential goods being stuck on highways because of
administrative issues, the Centre has clarified that “inter-state and intra-state
movement of all trucks and other goods/carrier vehicles with one driver and one
additional person is allowed as long as the driver is carrying a valid driver’s
licence’’.
Also, if the truck/vehicle
is travelling empty, invoice and way-bill etc must be carried by the drivers
for delivery or pick up of goods. Movement of driver and another person from
the same place should also be facilitated by local authorities, the letter has
said.
The list of exempted items
include food, groceries, fruit, vegetable, dairy, milk products, meat, fish,
seeds, fertiliser, pesticides, agriculture produce, drugs, pharmaceuticals and
medical devices.
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