Lockdown to hurt telecom connectivity in Maharashtra

Maharashtra, which houses financial hub, Mumbai and contributes about 15 percent of national output, will halt all non-essential services from 8 pm on Monday. Private offices are asked to work from home, with some allowances for banks and stock exchanges.

The state government has announced a weekend lockdown and night curfew during the weekdays from April 5-30, in addition to a slew of other restrictions like the closure of private offices, theatres and salons to curb the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases.

Essential services as petrol pumps, cargo services, data centers/ cloud service providers/ IT services supporting critical infrastructure and services, government and private security services and fruit vendors will be allowed to function.

Private organisations will be allowed to remain open on all weekdays only from between 7 am to 8 pm, subject to all personnel attending office getting vaccinated at the earliest, as per criteria of Indian government and till vaccinated completely, to carry negative RT-PCR corona result certificate valid upto 15 days. This rule will come into effect from April 10, 2021. In absence of the requisite certificate, the offender will be fined an amount of ₹1000.

The Cellular Operators Association of India  has appealed to Anshu Prakash, secretary, DoT  seeking, “frontline health worker status for field staff of all telecom service providers” so that they are vaccinated on priority and also exempt from any movement restrictions in the state. The secretary has in turn requested the ministry of health and family welfare to make this exception, not only for the telcos but also for the towercos’ field staff.

TR Dua, director general of Tower & Infrastructure Providers Association has also warned the Maharashtra chief secretary, “The situation is alarming in Maharashtra, and if there’s a lockdown with the rise in COVID cases, the people of the state may face telecom connectivity issues due to the long-pending resolution of operational issues.” He is referring to their teams facing threats of coercive action from local municipal corporations, who refuse to accept the state’s telecom infrastructure policy.

Ajit Jagtap, Maharashtra President of the All India Mobile Retailers Association has written to Uddhav Thackeray, Chief Minister, Maharashtra urging him to either allow opening of stores for limited hours in the week or alternate working days in the 25-day lockdown period. The offline mobile retailers are concerned not only for the deep negative impact it will have on their sales in this period but also that it will provide impetus to the continued shift in consumer preference toward e-commerce; there are 15000 such stores in the state.
CT Bureau