NEW DELHI: The Union government has used “unlock” guidelines over the past four month to dilute the powers of state governments and district administrations to keep them from imposing arbitrary restrictions, local lockdown and sealing of borders. The first phase of unlock directives came on May 30, after more than 65 days of lockdown, when the home ministry asked the states to first publicise any restrictions they were imposing “based on reasons of public health”.
With several states demanding e-approval for intra-state travel, the ministry said in its ‘unlock 2’ guidelines effective from July 1 that “no separate permission will be required for interstate and intra state movement of goods and persons”.
Despite the Centre’s directives, though, the local administrations of Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad – all within states ruled by the BJP – imposed…
