No passes required for vehicles entering, leaving Madhya Pradesh

Amid a string of announcements for Unlock 1, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that there will be no need for passes for inter-state travel for vehicles entering or leaving Madhya Pradesh.

However, interstate bus services will remain suspended till June 7 across the state, according to a tweet by the office of the Chief Minister.

Chouhan has also announced that places of worship, shopping malls, hotels, and restaurants will open from June 8, outside containment zones, in the state.

He also said that although all educational institutions will remain closed, however, schools will open for holding Class 12 exams. The decision for reopening of schools, colleges, coaching institutions will be taken in the coming days.

In a major relief to the lower and middle class, the Madhya Pradesh CM has also announced that those domestic consumers of electricity, whose bills came below ₹100 in April, and between ₹100-400 in May, June, July, will only have to pay a fixed ₹100 per month for the bills of May, June and July months.

The announcements by Chouhan come in the wake of the new guidelines issued by MHA for phased re-opening of "all activities outside containment zones for the next one month beginning June 1."

"The guidelines will come into effect from June 1, 2020, and will be effective till June 30, 2020. The current phase of re-opening, Unlock 1, will have an economic focus," said the MHA.

The nationwide lockdown that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had first announced on March 24 was slated to end on May 17. On May 14, the government extended the lockdown till May 31.