Although the state government of Tamil Nadu has earlier decided to keep the lockdown and restrictions alive till May 3 to contain the spread of the Coronavirus, it has offered some relief to people to ease the hardship through its recent announcements. 

According to the reports, the Greater Chennai Corporation has announced that it would provide food at free of cost for people till May 3 at all the 407 Amma canteens in the city limits through which the corporation aims to curb the hunger and economical crisis erupted during the lockdown. The people will be served with food three times a day at free of cost and the corporation would meet the incurred expenses through the available donations. 

The corporation has said that it has been receiving donations from the people and the companies that release funds through Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and according to the civic body, it spends Rs 17 lakh per day to run the Amma Canteens in the city and it has enough funds to provide free food till May 3. 

Through the announcement, Chennai has joined the list of districts like Salem and Coimbatore which have been providing free food through Amma canteens in their respective territories. Adding to the initiative of free food, the Tamil Nadu government has, on Thursday, announced that it would allow the administration to resume the work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), which has around 82 lakh, active workers, in the state.

According to the order issued by Chief Secretary Shanmugam, the scheme would run through certain riders and restrictions. The order has been passed to allow the work related to irrigation and water conservation under the scheme based on the proposal from the state revenue and disaster management department. 

In the order, the government has cleared that no work under the scheme would take place in the COVID-19 containment zones and red zones in the state that are hotspots for the spread of the human to human transmitting virus. The scheme would provide income for the daily wage and rural people and through the fresh order, the government has issued the guidelines on how the work should be resumed. 

The reports stated that the workers would be provided with the masks and they must strictly observe social distancing and not more than one-third of the required number of laborers are mobilized. The authorities would allow five to ten workers at each worksite to contain the spread. It must be recalled that the government has recently upgraded the wage of the workers under the scheme from Rs 229 to Rs 256. According to the reports, the containment zones and hotspots would remain under lockdown and restrictions until May 3.