Liquor shops will be allowed to open in both Orange and Green Zones. Liquor stores will also be allowed to open in Red Zones as long as they are standalone shops not part of a market complex or a mall. This was revealed by sources within the Home Ministry.
They added thath e-commerce will be allowed only for essentials on Red Zones. In Orange and Green Zones, e-commerce will be allowed for both essential and non-essentials goods. The sources also added that the issue of allowing or disallowing maids to resume work has been left up to the respective state governments and union territory administrations.
An important point to note here is that these relaxed restrictions will not apply to containment areas identified by local authorities in Red and Orange Zones. Containment areas will remain under severe restrictions with nothing beyond supply of essentials allowed.
Another point to note is that under the lockdown directives issued Friday, states and union territories can choose to strengthen the restrictions issued by the Centre. They, however, cannot dilute them.
So for example, while the Centre has permitted liquor shops to open in non-containment areas of Red (only standalone stores), Orange and Green Zones, states and UTs can choose to keep them shut if they wish. What states and UTs cannot do is dilute the restrictions, i.e. for example, states and UTs cannot allow e-commerce for non-essential items in Red Zones.
