Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SHP)

Bengaluru, Apr 27: Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi on Monday, April 27, held a video conference with chief ministers of different states regarding exit plans post the lockdown deadline on May 3. However, majority of the state heads felt it would not be wise to lift the lockdown entirely or allow inter-state movement from May 4.

Chief minister B S Yediyurappa, who was a part of the video conference, later said, "We have taken all precautions to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection. We will continue those measures. There is a possibility of the lockdown getting extended for two weeks after May 3. So it will be under lockdown till May 15. There is no answer from the prime minister for the opinion of the state government on zone-wise relaxation of lockdown. However, we completely support the decision of Prime Minister Modi.”

Earlier, the PM appreciated the efforts of the state leaders who have ensured strict vigil in their respective states. PM Modi also pointed out that the lockdown has contributed towards the prevention in the spread of the pandemic to a major extent.

In his opening remarks at the meeting in which nine chief ministers also spoke, Home Minister Amit Shah asked states to strictly implement the guidelines and enforce restrictions during the lockdown.

Shah also stated that the fight against the virus was a long battle which needs to be fought with patience.

In the Supreme Court separately, the MHA has already said migrants do not need to return to their villages.

Reportedly, during the 3-hour long meeting, majority of the state leaders expressed concern over the lack of resources to fight the virus amid lockdown. They also expressed the negative impact the lockdown was having on the economy.

Now, the challenges before the governments are to bring the derailed economy back on track and to ensure the safe return of the migrant workers back to their villages, who lately have been agitated and are displaying desperation to go back home. As per news reports, migrant workers in different states are even seen walking thousands of kilometres to reach their homes. To sort this issue, Maharashtra has requested special trains to ferry the migrant workers.

Meanwhile, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan who chose to skip the meeting is said to be submitting his views in writing. In his absence, Kerala was represented by state chief secretary, who said that state is not in favour of a blanket withdrawal of all restrictions after May 3 and will prefer a graded exit from the lockdown.

Among other things discussed, the state heads urged for ramping up tests. Earlier on Sunday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has stressed on increasing testing rate. He claimed that in India, it was the bottleneck which is discouraging the scaling up of tests. Further, he said that the PM had to address the issue of bottlenecks fast to combat the deadly virus.

Currently, Maharashtra has reported 29 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the country and Gujarat accounted for 17 per cent of coronavirus deaths. Given the trend persisting in the country, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal are in favour of continuing lockdown for another month, with more relaxations. On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have agreed to follow the Centre's decision regarding the lockdown.

Few of the other concerns raised during the meeting were resuming activities in non-hotspot areas, running special trains to ferry migrant workers and making additional kits and PPE available to states. There are indications that any opening will be followed up with aggressive testing and tracing protocols to avoid the proliferation of new disease clusters.