MP invokes Esma to tackle Covid-19

CM issues ultimatum to Delhi attendees

Madhya Pradesh government on Wednesday invoked Essential Services Management Act (Esma) amid spiralling

Covid-19 deaths in the state.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to announce enforcement of Esma ‘with immediate effect’ as coronavirus positive cases breached the 300-mark to touch 327 by Wednesday evening.

“The government has implemented Esma with immediate effect with an objective to handling the

Covid-19 outbreak in a better way and in the interest of the citizens”, Mr Chouhan tweeted.

In another significant development, the Chief Minister issued an ultimatum to the attendees of last month’s religious congregation in Nizamuddin who have gone into hiding, to report to the local health centres within 24 hours.

“They will be booked for posing threat to security of the country if they violated the ultimatum”, Mr Chouhan warned.

Earlier, Mr Chouhan squarely blamed the participants in the congregation for spreading virus in the state, particularly among the police personnel who confronted them in various places to quarantine them.

As many as 117 people from Madhya Pradesh were said to have attended the religious congregation. However, around two dozens of them were yet to traced, causing anxiousness in the state administration.

An FIR has been registered against local Congress MLA Siddharth Kushwaha and seven of his associates for violating section 144 of Indian Penal Code by staging demonstration in Nai Basti area in Satna late on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, eight fresh cases of coronavirus positive were reported in Bhopal on Wednesday taking the tally of confirmed cases in the city to 92.

The total number of confirmed cases in the state also mounted to 327 by evening. Indore continued to top the chart of Covid19 positive cases in the state with the confirmed cases spiking to 173 on Wednesday.

The death toll due to virus infection in the state increased to 25.

Meanwhile, Former chief minister and Congress veteran leader Kamal Nath on Wednesday prescribed “Hanuman Chalisa” recitation to escape scourge of deadly coronavirus, taking the intelligentsia here by surprise.

In a statement issued here, Mr Nath, known as an ardent devotee of Lord Hanuman, exhorted his partymen to recite ‘Hanuman Chalisa’ to escape the wrath of deadly coronavirus.

He issued the message for the partymen on the occasion of Hanuman Jayanti.

“Recite Hanuman Chalisa in your houses to protect yourself from Covid-19”, he said.

His recommendation of Hanuman Chalisa recitation as panacea for coronavirus has taken the intellectuals by surprise.

“Mr Nath is known as a progressive minded and intellectual person. His statement prescribing Hanuman Chalisa recitation to keep away from coronavirus has really surprised us”, B.Garg,

an eminent doctor here, said.