Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said her government was preparing a plan to continue with “special measures” in the containment zones in Bengal till May 21 and considering relaxations in other areas as everything could not be kept on hold for an indefinite period.

“The Prime Minister himself was saying (on Monday) how many days it would take, how many days it would continue,” the chief minister said.

Mamata told a news conference at Nabanna: “I guessed that it could continue for a long period.… Everything cannot be put on hold for a long period.”

The chief minister was addressing the news conference hours after attending a three-hour video conference that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had with chief ministers of all states.

Mamata said her government was planning to continue with special measures for the containment zones — a list of the zones in four districts in Bengal was also given to the media — till May 21.

Asked about the fate of the lockdown after May 3, she said that would be decided by the Centre. Mamata added that she wanted some restrictions in place till the situation turned normal.

“The international borders should remain closed. No flight and train should operate. Inter-state bus services should be suspended till the situation gets normal,” the chief minister said.

The chief minister said her government had divided the state into three colours — red, orange and green — and special measures would be in place for the red zones and some relaxations were being planned for the other areas.

“More importance would be given to the red zones. (The administration) has to work strictly there,” she said.

Sources said the state government’s plan had two parts – confining the spread of Covid-19 within the containment zones and working aggressively to identify and quarantine all suspected cases as early as possible in the zones.

For instance, the state administration has imposed a complete lockdown in four police station areas in Howrah where everything, including medicine shops, were shut from Monday morning.

“These areas had containment zones. The district authorities have ensured that residents don’t step out of their homes. All essential items and medicines would be delivered at the doorstep,” said an official.

Sources said the state government might initiate similar steps in other containment zones that fall in the three other red zones — Calcutta, North 24-Parganas and East Midnapore — if the situation did not improve soon.

The chief minister said her government was looking at the nature of relaxations that could be allowed and shortlisting areas. “We are discussing what kind of work could be initiated in the rural areas that fall in the green zone…. Some relaxations could be given for the orange zones too.”

Sources in Nabanna said the announcement made by the chief minister suggested that the state government wanted to give a boost to the rural economy, most of which fall in the green and orange zones.

“Only four districts out of 23 in Bengal are in the red zone. So, the chief minister wants to normalise the situation in a majority of the districts while strengthening the lockdown in the containment areas. This is the right approach,” said a source.

Although the chief minister did not make it clear what kind of relaxations would be given to the green and orange zones, sources said the state government was planning to allow construction work, stone and sand quarries to operate and small leather and handicraft units to function.

“These units employ thousands of people in the green and orange zones. The units have to follow certain norms like social distancing, sanitisation and wearing masks. But the state government would not allow anything that draws large gatherings like cinema halls,' said a source.

The initiative is in line with the chief minister’s stated policy of saving lives and livelihood.

The chief minister expressed dissatisfaction with the Centre’s order issued a couple of days ago to open stand-alone, non-essential shops in non-hotspot areas.

“I am in favour of implementing full lockdown as per the instruction of the government of India. If all shops are allowed to open, people will come to the streets.… They (the Centre) should have clarity. Opening of all shops and implementation of lockdown measures cannot be in place at the same time,” the chief minister said.