The West Bengal authorities on Thursday prolonged the present COVID-19 restrictions within the state until August 15 with some extra relaxations, one of many being the permission to reopen cinema halls with no more than 50 per cent occupancy.
The state has additionally given its nod for organising authorities programmes indoors, supplied the variety of seats is trimmed all the way down to 50 per cent of the unique capability, based on an official order issued within the morning.
Buses, taxis, auto-rickshaws have been allowed to function with 50 per cent occupancy.
Offices, each authorities and personal, have been requested to perform with half the manpower, the order stated.
All district administrations, police commissionerates and native authorities must adjust to the government-issued directives, the order stated.
“Any violation of the restriction measures will be liable to be proceeded against as per the provisions of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 and relevant sections of the IPC,” it added.
Later within the day, in yet one more order, the federal government allowed cinema halls to renew enterprise with strict adherence to COVID-19 protocols.
Meanwhile, the Eastern India Motion Pictures Association, which represents distributors and producers, welcomed the federal government’s choice and stated “it would rekindle hopes of the ailing industry”.
“Happy that chief minister Mamata Banerjee listened to our pleas to reopen the halls,” Satadeep Saha, proprietor of a singlescreen and a neighborhood multiplex chain, stated.
