Call all-party meet, Congress tells KCR

The Covid-19 Task Force of the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee, during its first meeting on Monday, requested Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao to immediately convene an all-party meeting to brief them about the efforts to address the pandemic.The meeting was held over video-conference and was chaired by former MLA Marri Shashidhar Reddy. Expressing solidarity with the government, the task force appreciated doctors, medical staff, police, revenue, municipal, civil supplies, agriculture and others who were risking their own health for public health.

The task force asked the CM to meet religious leaders on Good Friday and Easter this week, the beginning of Ramzan later this month and Guru Purnima and Bonalu in June to seek their cooperation. They noted that health bulletins were not being issued regularly and that they had discrepancies when compared to Central government figures. The task force said the government should address the issue of shortage of safety equipment. In states such as Kerala, the CM, health minister and officials were holding press briefings every day, and the same should be done in Telangana state.

They noted that people were facing troubles at ration shops due to technical glitches. To control the crowd at these shops, they suggested a system wherein people with cards ending with particular numbers could come to the shop on assigned days. They also asked the CM to ensure procurement of farm produce is done properly. They asked him to ensure that migrant labourers got their money. The task force also said MNREGA payments should not be held up even if no work was being done now.