As the real estate sector gears up to get back to work yesterday thanks to the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that have been in place since March 24, it is faced with more questions than answers. Some developers have found themselves on the right side of good fortune since their projects don’t fall within COVID-19 containment zones and have labour readily available. For a start, developers are not basking under the illusion that any easing of restrictions will mean resumption of normal work at any construction site.

Last week, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued a circular with guidelines on businesses returning to work on April 20, given the Centre’s plan to ease restrictions on the nationwide lockdown in force from March 24. According to this plan, only project sites that fall outside containment zones would be allowed to resume construction work, provided labour for the site in question is available and not brought in from another location.

Mr. Pradeep Aggarwal, Founder and Chairman – Signature Global India Pvt. Ltd., Chairman – ASSOCHAM National Council on Real Estate, Housing and Urban Development, said, “As we retained labour for all our on-going projects, we will be able to start work on all these projects,” “Extra work can be distributed among the existing labour by giving them proper compensation for it,” he says.”