Sonia to PM: Take austerity measures
New Delhi: Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday wrote to PM Narendra Modi suggesting five measures to save money for the fight against Covid-19, including suspension of Central Vista project and complete ban on media advertisements by government for two years.
A day ahead of the allparty meeting on Covid19, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday suggested a five-point agenda on government austerity measures to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Mr Modi had on Monday called up the Congress president among other leaders and asked for suggestions to deal with the pandemic.
In a letter the PM on Tuesday, Mrs Gandhi said: “Austerity measures which can be used to divert much-needed funds to the fight against Covid-19 are the need of the hour.”
Her first suggestion was a complete ban on media advertisements — television, print and online — by the government and Public Sectors Undertakings (PSUs) for a period of two years.
“The only exceptions should be advisories for Covid-19 or for issues relating to public health. Given that the Central government currently spend an average of 1,250 crore per year on media advertisements (not including an equal or greater amount spent by PSUs and government companies), this will free up a substantial amount to alleviate the economic and social impacts of Covid-19.”
She also called for suspension of `20,000 crore “Central Vista” beautification and construction project arguing that at a time like this, such an outlay seems self-indulgent.
Mrs Gandhi proposed that all foreign visits, including that of the President, the Prime Minister, Union ministers, chief ministers, state ministers and bureaucrats must be put on hold for the next two years.
Pitching for the “Prime Ministers National Relief Fund” (PM-NRF) to be the primary body collecting money for Covid-19 relief operations, Mrs Gandhi said that all the money in the newly-launched “PM Cares” fund should be diverted to this.
“This will ensure efficiency, transparency, accountability and audit in the manner in which these funds are allocated and spent. It seems like a waste of effort and resources to have and create two separate silos for the distribution of funds. I understand that `3,800 crore approximately are lying unutilised in the PMNRF. These funds can be used to ensure food security net for those at the margins of society.”
A medical team collects swabs from police personnel and their family members for Covid-19 tests at Yogi Nagar police quarters after a police inspector was found positive for the disease, in Borivali, Mumbai on Tuesday.
Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Tuesday said that police personnel deployed at the chief minister Uddhav Thackeray’s private residence ‘Matoshree’ in suburban Bandra will be tested for coronavirus infection, a day after the owner of a tea stall near the bungalow tested positive.
The home minister also said that police personnel appointed at the bungalow will be quarantined and replaced as a precautionary measure.
Mr Deshmukh said, “The officers may have consumed tea from the tea stall. We will screen them and other staffers who were deployed there.”
On Monday, the tea vendor outside Matoshree was tested positive for Covid-19 and was admitted to in the Hinduhridaysamrat Balasaheb Thackeray Hospital in Jogeshwari. However, it is not yet clear how the vendor, who stays inside his small shop, contracted the infection.
Soon after the news spread, civic officials on Monday sprayed disinfectants in the area and took preventive measures in and around the Matoshree bungalow. The area around ‘Matoshree’ was declared a ‘containment zone.’
Mr Deshmukh also lambasted people who flout the lockdown norms and
The state ministers on Tuesday expressed concern over the high mortality rate in Covid-19 patients in the state. Maharashtra is the worsthit, with the toll touching 1018 and 64 deaths, of which Mumbai alone has reported 642 Covid-19 positive cases till date.
Maharashtra reported a sharp spike by 150 in coronavirus positive cases on the fourteenth day of the lockdown, with Mumbai alone accounting for 116, Pune reported 18 cases, three each from Ahmednagar, Nagpur and Aurangabad, two each from Thane and Buldana, and one each from Satara, Ratnagiri and Sangli, health officials stated. The death toll rose by 12 in state.
Out of the 12 deceased, six deaths were recorded in Mumbai, three in Pune and one each in Nagpur, Satara, and MiraBhayandar. However, 79 patients have been discharged so far after recovering from the infection.
step out of their homes for “frivolous” reasons, and warned strict action. “We are keeping vigil. We have issued orders to seize vehicles and 4,000 vehicles have been seized till Monday,” he said.
The home minister also asked people living in containment zones cooperate with the state government by not stepping out of their homes.