Reviving economy in Covid fight to top agenda of PM meet

NEWDELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi may meet chief ministers as early as Tuesday, May 12, to discuss the next stage in the exit from the nationwide lockdown enforced to fight the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), government officials familiar with the matter said.

They added that the focus of the meeting will be on a further increase in economic activities and on tackling the pandemic in containment zones.

On Saturday, Cabinet secretary Rajeev Gauba held two backto-back meetings to identify possible areas that can be opened up after May 17. In one of the meetings, the focus turned to areas that have witnessed a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases in the past week, a person familiar with the discussion said on condition of anonymity.

According to the government officials, plans are afoot for the PM’s fifth meeting with the CMs since March 20.

The meeting comes ahead of May 17, when the second extension of the lockdown ends, although, with more activities permitted, and people allowed to move around in many parts of the country, this period has been more a graded exit than a continuation of a hard lockdown.

The lockdown, enforced on March 25, was originally supposed to end on April 14. It was then extended to May 3, and then again to May 17.