Hyderabad: CII wants govt to continue economic activities during Covid

Hyderabad: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has recommended to the State government to continue economic activities during Covid. In a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, CII has made few suggestions for his consideration, which include social and economic activities need to be considered separately. Social activities, in particular mass gatherings for any sports, entertainment, recreation, should be restricted in general to curtail further spread of the Omicron variant.

The CII suggests a containment strategy based on micro zones. These are small, clearly marked geographical areas identified and demarcated by the district administrations, such as neighbourhoods, villages, talukas, urban bodies to monitor and manage the outbreak. Random sampling for testing and sero-positivity and early warning systems will facilitate tracking the spread of the contagion and considering response measures. A combination of vaccination rate, hospitalisation incidence and sero-prevalence, if available, should be used as parameters to determine containment and subsequent opening in micro zones and the level of restrictions. Containment at micro zones should be considered only when available hospital beds are 75 per cent occupied. Depending on this, the micro zones can be progressively closed or opened up.

Normal economic activities should continue in the rest of the district and even in micro containment zones under strict supervision. In micro containment zones, all factories may be allowed to function under certain conditions of hygiene and safety. There should be no distinction between essential and non-essential goods and services.

All shops may be permitted to open without restrictions on timings to avoid crowding at certain times. However, crowd control is essential to enable social distancing.

C K Ranganathan, CII chairman, southern region, said ensuring continuity and sustainability of businesses during the Covid crisis is extremely important, specially for MSMEs. The CII is working with the State government towards business continuity and supporting MSMEs to overcome the economic downturn by facilitating cross sector initiatives and policy interventions.

Sameer Goel, Telangana CII chairman, said, being a progressive State, it is in the forefront on socio-economic development, calibrated restrictions would help to sustain the growth momentum and also ensure livelihoods of people during this challenging times.