Several chief ministers including Delhi’s Arvind Kejriwal urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday to extend the federal lockdown till the end of April as it is helping to contain the deadly corona outbreak. Some chief ministers also demanded financial packages while expressing concern over the impact of the pandemic on the economy.
PM Modi did not spell out his decision on the lockdown at the meeting. An official spokesperson confirmed that most states had requested the Centre to extend the national lockdown.
“The Central Government is considering this request,” KS Dhatwalia, the government’s principal spokesperson said. Dhatwalia’s tweet came minutes after Arvind Kejriwal appeared to suggest that PM Modi had taken the decision to extend the lockdown by two weeks.
In course of the meeting – this was the third conference of chief ministers on the Covid-19 pandemic – PM Modi assured the chief ministers on more than one occasion that the Centre will work in tandem with the states.
In his opening speech, Modi said that the leaders must stand shoulder-to-shoulder to tackle this outbreak and insisted that there is no space of politics in the health emergency. He also said that the suggestions of all CMs would be considered with highest importance.
#IndiaFightsCoronavirus #21daylockdown :
During the video-conferencing on #coronavirusinindia with state CMs today,
most states requested PM @narendramodi to extend the lockdown for 2 more weeks.The Central Government is considering this request.
— Sheyphali B. Sharan (@DG_PIB) April 11, 2020
Modi also appealed to the CMs to share all information without any hesitation and underlined that he is available 24/7 to talk to them, listen to their suggestions and problems and help the states.
“During the video-conferencing on #coronavirusinindia with state CMs today, most states requested PM @narendramodi to extend the lockdown for 2 more weeks. The Central Government is considering this request,” tweeted KS Dhatwalia, Principal Spokesperson, government of India.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, UP CM Yogi Adityanath, Punjab’s Amrinder Singh and Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao pitched for extending the lockdown till April 30. According to a functionary, Madhya Pradesh CM Shivraj Singh Chauhan didn’t give his opinion on extending the lockdown.
Earlier this week, Modi had told parliament floor leaders of political parties that it is not possible to abruptly end the lockdown and underlined that lockdown is the only way to save people’s lives in India.
Punjab chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh demanded extension of the nationwide lockdown by at least a fortnight but with special concessions for industry and agriculture sectors.
He reiterated the need for ramping up testing facilities and urged the Prime Minister to expedite the supply of rapid test kits and sought special risk allowance for all government employees including police personnel and sanitation workers engaged in frontline duties.
Singh also sought the central support for assisting the poor and bonus for the farmers to incentivise staggered and delayed procurement of wheat apart from three months waiver of interest on crop loans and deferment of recovery of crop loans by commercial banks.
He urged the Prime Minister to defer recovery and waiver of interest and penalties on industrial loans for six months to enable the industry to meet urgent costs, including wage payment to workers.
Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel urged the Prime Minister to give the right to the state governments to decide whether to carry out economic activities in their respective states.
Given the prevailing situation, he said the states will definitely face an economic crisis and an action plan has to be prepared as per the requirement to enable them to revive the economy.
Baghel and Kejriwal also sought continuation of the ban on inter-state road, air and rail facilities
