Villages must be Covid-free: Modi
PM for balancing economy, containment; CMs want freedom to define red zones
With the massive movement of migrant workers towards their native places across the country still taking place as India enters the last leg of its 54day nationwide lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday spoke with all Chief Ministers to discuss the way forward to combat the coronavirus crisis and ways to restart the economy.
During his fifth interaction with CMs to discuss the way forward, Mr Modi spoke of the lockdown having a negative impact on the economy and expressed hope that economic activities will gradually gather steam.
“Slowly but surely, economic activities have begun to pick up in several parts of the country. In coming days, this process will further gather steam. We must realise that fight against Covid-19 has to be more focused now. Going forward, the road ahead should be focused on reducing the spread and ensuring that all precautions are taken by people including social distancing norms by observing ‘do gaj doori’ (six-feet distance),” Mr Modi said.
At the the meeting, which lasted for six hours as all the CMs were allowed to speak, Mr Modi said the main focus of the fight against Covid-19 pandemic should be on ensuring that rural India remains free from the crisis.
“We stressed that people should stay where they are. But it’s human nature to want to go home and so we had to modify or change our decisions. Despite that, we have to make sure that the disease doesn’t spread and go to villages, that’s our big challenge,” Mr Modi said, talking about the movement of migrants.
“In this entire fight, the world has said that we have been successful in fighting the threat of
Covid-19. State governments have played a major role in this fight. They have understood their responsibility and served their roles in countering this threat,” the Prime Minister said.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel conveyed to the PM that states should be given the authority to decide the red, green and orange zones and that resumption of all air, rail and road travel should be done after consultation with states.
Mr Shah, who was also present in the meeting, highlighted the importance of the Aarogya Setu app and asked states to popularise it.