Citing that occupancy rate of hospital beds reserved for Covid positive patients is well within the manageable level, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has urged all States to lift restrictions on economic activities.

The industry body, which has sent suggestions to Chief Ministers of all States on the level of curbs on markets and factories, wants social and economic activities need to be considered separately. Social activities, in particular, mass gatherings for any social, sports, entertainment or recreation purposes, should be restricted in general to curtail spread of the Omicron variant, it said.

However, it has proposed micro containment zones for small and clearly marked geographical areas such as mohallas, neighbourhoods, villages, talukas, urban bodies to be identified by the district administration to monitor and manage the outbreak. According to CII, containment at micro zones should be considered only when available hospital beds are 75 per cent occupied and normal economic activities should continue until this level is breached whereas in the rest of the district there should be no restrictions.

States should use “a combination of vaccination rate, hospitalisation incidence and sero-prevalence, if available, to determine the level of restrictions in the micro containment zones,” CII said in a statement.

Further, all factories may be allowed to function under certain conditions of hygiene and safety even in micro containment zones, CII has said. “There should be no distinction between essential and non-essential goods and services. All shops may be permitted to open without restrictions on timing to avoid crowding at certain times. However, crowd control is essential to enable social distancing,” said CII.

‘Stop odd-even system’

The recommendations have come two days after Lt Governor Anil Baijal’s rejection of Delhi government’s recommendations to lift weekend curfew and remove odd-even rule for the opening of shops in the markets.

Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) also, in a letter to Baijal, has suggested that the odd-even system has not only proved to be a failure in Delhi, but it has caused more trouble to the consumers and disruption in trade.

“Hospitalisation rates in the present wave stand at manageable levels and therefore, industry feels that Covid-related restrictions can be removed to enable the robust recovery process to continue. With a lower level of hospitalisations seen in the Omicron variant, it is possible to maintain normal economic activities and protect lives and livelihoods,” said TV Narendran, President, CII.

CSR funds for jabs

Stressing that the industry is keen to contribute to the world’s most ambitious vaccination mission which has now been rolled out to senior citizens in precautionary dose and age-group of 15-18, CII has suggested 1 per cent of mandated corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds be earmarked for vaccination. An additional 1 per cent (over and above the mandated 2 per cent) may be added to CSR requirements in the Budget for 12 months, so that boosters can be made available to all age-groups, CII said.

The investments under National Infrastructure Pipeline and Gati Shakti programme must be fast-tracked and it is expected that the Budget would provide for this, Narendran said. “With rebound in demand, the economy is expected to achieve 9.2 per cent growth rate over 2021-22. However, this pace must continue for full recovery and faster growth in the medium term and to ensure that workers and small enterprises do not suffer,” said Narendran.

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