Gandaki Province has instructed all of its 11 district administrations to help the industries, agro farms and construction projects to resume operations.

A Friday meeting of the provincial Crisis Management Centre Operation, formed in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, had taken the decision to that effect, formulating a criteria on the resumption of “essential enterprises”. The Operation is led by Chief Minister Prithvi Subba Gurung.

“We have decided to allow essential enterprises to operate on the condition that they adopt security measures and abide by the guidelines we have laid out,” Ram Sharan Basnet, spokesperson of the provincial government, told the Post. “Development works that were halted since the lockdown will resume and the raw materials will be transported at a certain time of the day.”

The government also takes account of all the workers and business owners who resume their work, Basnet said. “The workers will be instructed to maintain social-distancing and adopt security measures,” he said.

The criteria states development projects should manage basic health equipment, ban the entry of people in the construction sites, and set up quarantine facilities for contingent cases of Covid-19. Industry and agro farm owners should disinfect the vehicles used to ferry their products to the market, the guidelines further state. The respective district administration would designate a certain time for the transportation.

With the decision, all hardware stores, vehicle workshops and other stores with essentials for construction and agriculture work will open in the province.

The province has so far reported two cases of Covid-19, both of whom have recovered.