Mobile Recharges Shops Can Remain Open Amid Lockdown: Govt

Under the revised guidelines issued for the lockdown, the Ministry of Home Affairs has clarified that recharge facilities for prepaid phone numbers are allowed to function.

On Tuesday, home secretary Ajay Bhalla in a letter to the chief secretaries of states said public utilities including recharge facilities were allowed to operate with the standard operating procedure for social distancing.

The change will benefit over 450 million users of prepaid mobile services that do not have access to an internet connection, digital recharge or do not prefer online means. It will also help users fixed any technical issues with their phones that are provided by these mobile phone recharge outlets.

To help these low-income subscribers, telecom companies like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have increased their prepaid connection validity to 3 May. Reliance Jio gave 100 minutes of free talk time and 100 text messages to all its users.