Home Minister Amit Shah on Saturday reviewed the progress made by states during the lockdown period to check the spread of coronavirus disease and to take stock of the supply of essential commodities, officials said.
The Centre has already laid out guidelines to allow limited activities after April 20 to lift the economic sentiment in the country. The partial relaxation of restrictions will allow economic activities to restart to an extent and also provide much-needed employment to people, especially daily wage earners.
During the meeting, the home minister was informed about the steps taken by the home ministry to provide support to migrant workers who are stranded in different parts of the country.
Shah also reviewed the working of a 24×7 control room set up to monitor the coronavirus pandemic and coordinate with states and union territories.
“The home minister reviewed the working of MHA control room and reviewed COVID-19 situation in various states in a meeting with officers.
“The control room is operational 24×7 and is coordinating with states as well as with various ministries of central government,” a home ministry spokesperson said.
The meeting was attended by his two junior ministers G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and other senior officers.
Earlier in the day, the GoM on Covid-19, chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh, discussed ways to mitigate the hardships faced by the people and the role ministries can play in providing relief to people.
He said the GoM also reiterated its appeal to citizens to observe social distancing norms and stay away from participating in mass prayers or religious congregations.
The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from March 24 for 21 days — till April 14 — in a bid to combat the coronavirus pandemic. It was further extended till May 3.
