Coaching centres, cinema halls with 50 percent capacity and public parks will reopen in Jharkhand from March 1 after remaining shut for about a year due to covid-19 pandemic. Also, all government offices will function with 100 percent capacity from next month onwards.

State disaster management authority (SDMA) chaired by chief minister Hemant Soren on Thursday has also paved the way for the reopening of schools for classes VII, IX and XI. All colleges, ITI institutes and the likes are to resume classes in accordance with the Covid-19 safety norms set by the governing bodies.

Swimming pools will however continue to remain shut for the public, but it will be utilised for training players preparing for different tournaments. Sporting events have been allowed to have spectators up to 1000 people. Government has also upped the gathering limit for outdoor events to 1000 from existing cap of 300 while indoor cap for 200 has removed. For indoor events, 50 percent capacity of any specific location has been allowed.

All fresh relaxations will come into force from March 1, notification released by the state IPRD department has informed. Anganwadi centres across the state however will be allowed to function from April 1 and before that women and child welfare department, which runs them, must ensure vaccination of the staffs running those them. On schools, the notification read, “Attendance is not made mandatory if parents don’t wish to send their kids. Before calling any student, schools are directed to take due consent from their parents.”

Jharkhand Coaching Association secretary SD Mishra in a statement welcomed the decision. “We will follow all the standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent spread of any fresh infection,” he said. Cinema operators too were elated. A manager of Eylex cinemas said, “We had recently met with CM demanding reopening with 50% capacity citing the unbearable losses. We are happy that the government has finally agreed to our demands. Many may however not immediately resume as lots of maintenance works have to be undertaken to make halls public friendly again.”