“For safeguarding the uninterrupted supply of consumer items in the market, CII urges the government to keep the manufacturing facilities of the food processing industry open under the strictest of safety and hygiene guidelines. Hence, any executive order or section 144 restrictions should include the exemption of these manufacturing facilities and food delivery services as an essential business exemption,” Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General, CII said.
A recent advisory issued by the Central Government has requested the States to enforce Work from Home (WFH) for private-sector employees except for those working in emergency/essential services. “While CII understands the need for social distancing, the criticality of timely provision of needs to be recognized. There is, therefore, merit in including these industries under essential services
Under the current circumstance, the E-commerce sector is playing a crucial role, providing buyers doorstep access to daily necessities. It also provides senior citizens with a convenient and minimum contact option to access the markets without needing to leave their homes. “CII recommends that E-commerce shipments and deliveries be treated as an essential activity, which may be exempted from any travel/transport restrictions, if and when such restrictions are enforced. Central guidance is issued to all States and other ground agencies implementing these orders clarifying the exemptions”, Banerjee highlighted.
It is useful to mention here that countries such as the U.S., Italy, Spain, France, Germany, and the U.K. too have issued specific E-commerce exemptions from the restrictive orders for quarantines and shutdowns.
Further, in the present times of lockdowns and quarantines, the supply of consumer items in the markets need to be secured. This will only be achieved if the manufacturing facilities of the food processing industry are kept up and running., Banerjee commented. Additionally, it is our request to keep retail and wholesale stores selling essential /basic commodities and fresh items outside the purview of these executive orders.
In order to ensure that the IT-ITeS industry is able to provide continuous support services to sectors such as government, healthcare, and insurance, banking, transportation, etc., appropriate directions need to be issued by both the Central and State governments.
“We recommend permitting at least 50% of the personnel to work from office for whom work from home cannot be enabled and where they are required to be in the office to ensure business continuity for critical functions. In order to ensure that this measure is implemented in the right spirit, we also suggest the formation of industry-government coordination mechanism”, Banerjee highlighted. “Further, we also request the government to provide a reasonable timeframe of say 5-7 days to transition all other personnel to work from home”, he added.
“Since notifications and lockdown orders are being issued from time to time in different states and cities based on the spread of the disease, it would be helpful if a notification or letter is issued by DPIIT to all states on these particular sectors that govern essential needs and services. These need immediate government support to ensure that essential commodities reach the common masses”, Banerjee said. The rapidly evolving situation under Covid-19 continues to pose new challenges for all stakeholders.
