By Navneet Mishra

New Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS): With the increase in cases of corona infection in the Capital, the Union government has withdrawn the order directing the reopening of all ministries' canteens which had been closed for the last four months. Withdrawing the August 28 order, the Union government has ordered all ministries to keep the canteens closed until further orders.

An official of the Ministry of Personnel told IANS that the threat of corona is active in Delhi as indicated by the increase in cases. In such a situation, it has been decided to keep all canteens closed following which the August 28 order has been withdrawn. The canteens of Central government ministries and departments have been closed since April 20 amid the spread of the corona infection.

The August 28 order said, "Restrictive activities are getting permission to operate slowly. Therefore, it has been decided to reopen the canteens of the various ministries in Delhi. But for this orders by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Health will have to be strictly followed. All employees are required to follow all protocols and social distancing norms at the distribution and sale counters."

According to the August 28 order, it was intended to open the departmental canteens from August 31.

However, corona infections kept under control in Delhi for the last two months suddenly started spiking. On August 30, 2,024 cases were reported while on September 1, there were 2,312 cases of corona infection.

In view of this, the Ministry of Personnel issued a new order on September 1 regarding the opening of the canteens withdrawing the earlier order of August 28.

According to the order, accessed by IANS, issued by Umesh Kumar Bhatia, deputy secretary of the Ministry of Personnel, a directive has been received saying the order to reopen the canteens on August 28 is withdrawn with immediate effect. The canteens will remain closed until further orders.