Bold measures needed for economic revival, says Cong

It’s everyone’s collective duty to help, protect health workers: Priyanka

NEW DELHI: Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Sunday said bold measures are required for economic revival as time is running out to prevent a grave and prolonged economic crisis.

Noting that “extraordinary situations call for extraordinary response”, he said bold measures and sector-specific stimulus alone can save the economic collapse.

“Prime Minister, the time is running out to prevent a grave and prolonged economic crisis. Bold measures and sectorspecific stimulus alone can save the economy from the threatened collapse. Also, Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said on Sunday that it is everyone's collective duty to help and protect health workers who are in the frontline in the fight against Coronavirus. In a tweet using hashtag ‘Weareproudofyou' she urged people to send their message to these “brave warriors”. “In this war against Coronavirus, our doctors, nursing staff, technicians and sanitation workers are the warriors who are staking their lives to manage the disease. It is everyone's duty to help them, keep them and their families safe and to support them. Send your message to these brave warriors,” the Congress general secretary said in the tweet in Hindi.

Her message comes in the wake of reports of some attacks on doctors and paramedic staff in some parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Ahmed Patel on Sunday urged Home Minister Amit Shah to allocate funds to states from the State Disaster Risk Management Fund (SDRMF) in proportion to the number of Coronavirus cases they have reported. Patel pointed out that some Union Territories and states like Delhi, Kerala and Punjab have a large number of COVID-19 cases but “they have received very little funds”.

“I request the Home Minister Amit Shah to include Covid19 as a criterion apart from the Finance Commission criteria for disbursement to states,” he said on Twitter.

“Central Government must consider the number of Covid19 cases and hotspots to decide the allocation of State

Disaster Risk Management Fund to states,” he added.

The Union home minister on Friday approved the release of ? 11,092 crore to all states under the SDRMF for setting up quarantine facilities and arranging other facilities for checking the spread of Coronavirus.

The number of confirmed novel Coronavirus cases in the country climbed to 3,374 on Sunday while the death toll rose to 77, according to Union Health Ministry data. Also, the Centre made a “grave mistake” by announcing the lockdown without taking the states into confidence and it should now spell out its plan after the 21-day period ends to avoid “chaos”, Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said on Sunday.

Asserting that access to testing should be “universal”, Moily, a member of Congress task force to deal with COVID19 pandemic in party-ruled states said the key to fighting the pandemic was large scale testing and the Congress-ruled states were focusing on that aspect despite constraints.