Unlock 4.0: Jharkhand allows public transport within state; hotels, lodges to reopen

Ranchi, Aug 29: The Jharkhand government has allowed reopening of hotels, lodges as well as restaurants and also given a go-ahead to public transport to ply within the state for a month till September 30 in view of the JEE-NEET examinations scheduled next month.

The relaxations under 'Unlock 4' were announced in a notification issued late Friday night.

• The Hemant Soren government also gave green signal to reopening of malls outside the containment zones with immediate effect.
• As per the directive issued under Disaster Management Act by Chief Secretary Sukhdev Singh, the lockdown has now been extended till September 30.
• Bar, educational institutions, cinema, cultural, social and sports event and auditoriums will remain closed.
• The ban on swimming pools, gyms, school-colleges, coaching, entertainment parks in the state will still remain unchanged.
• Likewise, all religious places will remain closed, except Baba Baidyanath Dham in Deoghar and Basukinath temple in Dumka that were allowed to open doors for devotees in view of a Supreme Court order.
• The ban on the movement of inter-state buses will remain in place.
• Barring these, other activities outside the containment zones have been permitted in the state.
• The state government has not said anything about the ban on salons and beauty parlors in Unlock-4.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren informed public about the new instructions through tweets.

He made an appeal to people to strictly follow the government rules and abide by COVID protocols of wearing mask and maintaining social distance.

Soren said examinees living in containment zones would be allowed to move out to appear for the exams.

'Their admit cards will be deemed as movement permits. They will not need to take any separate permission from local authorities,' he said.

During the time of JEE-NEET, examinees who travel to and from other states will be exempted from the 14-day mandatory quarantine period, the order, signed by chief secretary Sukhdev Singh, said.

The Joint Entrance Examination (Main) for admission in the government engineering colleges and the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) for admission in medical colleges will be held in September.

While NEET is scheduled on September 13, JEE-Mains will be held from September 1-6.