Time to lift lockdown fully, says TN Chamber of Commerce

In a memorandum to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, the chamber welcomed recommending traditional systems of medicine like Siddha, Ayurveda and Homeopathy to boost people’s immunity. It has resulted in reduction in number of people affected by coronavirus and also witnessed an increase in recovery rate, it stated.

After being sensitised on the ill effects of COVID-19, the people have started strictly adhering to standard operating procedures (SOP) such as wearing facemask, maintaining social distance and sanitising their hands often.

Therefore, it would suffice if the government laid focus on awareness initiatives and take stringent action on those violating the procedures, the chamber said. In the memorandum, N Jegatheesan, president of the chamber urged the government to completely lift the lockdown immediately, or at least from August 15 onwards.

Referring to recent guidelines issued by the Centre, Jegatheesan said the State government should scrap the mandatory travel e-pass requirement for movement of private cars and other vehicles between districts. It has severely restricted businessmen to visit their dealers and clients in other districts for canvassing, marketing and collection of dues.

Pointing out that the industrial growth in Tamil Nadu has not been evenly spread, he said the southern districts continued to lag far behind northern and western parts in terms of industrialisation. This disparity has severely impacted economic growth in the southern region of the state. Citing these factors, the Chamber demanded the state government to soon lift the lockdown completely.