Prime Minister Narendra Modi video conferencing with Chief Ministers on Monday. This is his fifth such interaction with CMs since lockdown
The effort now should be to stop the spread of COVID19 in rural areas: PM
Narendra Modi to address nation at 8 pm on Tuesday
– globalbihari bureau
New Delhi: In a meeting between Chief Ministers of States and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday, several CMs pointed out that with the return of migrants, there is a need to concentrate on strict implementation of the social distancing guidelines, usage of masks and sanitization in order to curb the spread through fresh infection, especially in rural areas. They also also highlighted the need to strengthen the medical and health infrastructure in the country.
Prime Minister told them that now the effort should be to stop the spread of the COVID-19 to rural areas. He reaffirmed the importance of Do Gaz Ki doori and added that suggestion of night curfew raised by many CMs would surely reaffirm the feeling of caution among people. Moreover, he cautioned that with the onset of Monsoon, there will be proliferation of many non-COVID19 diseases, “for which we must prepare and strengthen our medical and health systems”.
“Even as we look at the gradual withdrawal of the lockdown, we should constantly remember that till we do not find a vaccine or a solution, the biggest weapon with us to fight the virus is social distancing”, he said.
The Prime Minister asked the CMs to “share with me by 15th May”, a broad strategy on how you each one of you would want to deal with the lockdown regime in your particular states. “I want states to make a blue print on how to deal with various nuances during and after the gradual easing of the lockdown,” he said, and added that he was of the “firm view” that the measures needed in the first phase of lockdown were not needed during the 2nd phase and similarly the measures needed in the 3rd Phase are not needed in the fourth.
Modi pointed out that now the government had a “reasonably clear indication” as to the geographical spread of the pandemic in India, including the worst affected areas. “Moreover, over the past few weeks, officials have understood operating procedures in a time such as this, right up to the District level,” Modi said and added that this understanding of the spread of COVID-19 will help the country in having a focussed fight against it.
“And therefore, we can now further focus our strategy in this battle against coronavirus, as should be the case. We have a twofold challenge – to reduce the transmission rate of the disease, and to increase public activity gradually, while adhering to all the guidelines, and we will have to work towards achieving both these objectives,” he said.
The Chief Ministers in their suggestions on economy, sought support to MSMEs, Infrastructure projects like Power, easing of interest rates on loans and assured market access to the agricultural produce.Modi said the suggestions made by the states for a roadmap on Economy have been given due consideration, and added that the Post-COVID era also brings opportunities that India must leverage.
Modi told the CMs to “plan for the new reality,” and asked them for specific feedback on lockdown.The compulsory quarantining of the stranded Indians returning from abroad was also discussed during the meeting.
Prime Minister said, we will need an all-encompassing approach to deal with various challenges that will arise before us and also stressed on the need to keep in mind how to embrace new models of teaching and learning in the education sector.
“We must understand that the World has fundamentally changed post COVID-19. Now the World will be Pre-Corona, Post-Corona just like the case of the World Wars. And this would entail significant changes in how we function,” he said.
