Ten days after the government enforced the nationwide lockdown, the high-level coordination committee led by Deputy Prime Minister Ishwar Pokharel has decided to ease the supply of food items, fuel, and other essential goods amid the lockdown.

Minister for Finance and Minister for Communication and Information Technology Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada the meeting also decided to give continuity to the production of essential goods.

The spokesperson of the government Minister Dr Khatiwada said, “The factories and big projects will be allowed to produce essential goods adopting health standards and providing accommodation to their laborers.”

Similarly, other factories would also be allowed to operate, if they provided accommodation facility to the laborers. They must ensure health security and stop workers’ mobility, he added.

According to a news item published inThe Rising Nepal, the mega projects like Upper Tamakoshi Hydropower and Melamchi Drinking Water Project would be allowed to operate by prohibiting workers’ mobility, said Minister Dr Khatiwada.

“Such mega projects will be allowed to operate only by deploying available workers. No workers from outside will be allowed to enter the project site,” he said.

Likewise, the government has also asked people from rural areas to give continuity to the cultivation and other agricultural works. “However, all the agricultural works should be done by the locals themselves, instead of hiring laborers from outside.”

The paper reports that the government of Nepal has been preparing to bring Nepali nationals stranded on the Nepal-India border point amid lockdown, after completing 14 days of quarantine, he added. “Both Nepal and India have made an arrangement of quarantine for each other’s nationals stranded on the border points due to lockdown enforced by both the countries,” he said.

Minister Dr. Khatiwada said the government had made an agreement with the private sector to buy and import medical equipment meant for the test and treatment of coronavirus infection.