Focus on Economic Recovery but With Caution: PM

PM's review meeting yesterday focused on the improving recovery rate in the country, low fatality, and focused on ways to revive the economy. He said that because of the efforts made in the last few weeks, green shoots have begun to be visible in our economy which suffered immensely during the Coronavirus-induced lockdown. Appreciating Punjab's Covid micro-containment and house-to-house surveillance strategy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked all other states to adopt the model, which was helping Punjab successfully control the spread of the pandemic to a significant extent. PM observed that timely decisions taken to combat the pandemic have been effective in containing COVID19 spread in the country. When we look back, people will remember that we have presented an example for cooperative federalism to the world. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan also took part in the interaction held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Ministers of states and union territories, via video conference. Uttarakhand CM Trivendra Singh Rawat says: "It has been few days, but Uttarakhand has done a lot of work in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat. We have injected more than ?300 crore projects. The industry which came to halt due to COVID19 has now resumed & over 90% of it is working." Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jaganmohan Reddy sought relaxation of lockdown measures, with strict adherence of personal hygiene protocols. He said there are 97,000 MSME employees and 9 lakh people, therefore government needs to protect this sector. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee appealed to the centre to not play politics in this crucial time. We are surrounded by international borders and other bigger states and have challenges to deal with, emphasized Mamata Banerjee. We got opportunity to ramp up health infrastructure; North East CMs are working together as a team to combat Covid-19, said CM Pema Khandu. He sought PM’s intervention to take the state back on the track for investment in Agri and Horticulture sectors. Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal appeared unequivocal on restarting economic activities in national capital, except in coronavirus containment zones which are in strict lockdown to check the spread of the virus. Uddhav Thackeray asked for local trains to be started in MMR region. The locals would only be available for those providing essential services, assured Thackeray. Chief minister Amarinder Singh demanded that in case of a graded exit from the lockdown based on red, orange and green zones, state administrations be allowed to decide where restrictions can be eased. Tamil Nadu CM E Palanisami urged the Prime minister not to resume flights and trains this month. Tamil Nadu, especially Chennai, has seen a surge in coronavirus cases, he said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted that the opening of the economy will continue. However, he cautioned everyone to be mindful of wearing masks and maintaining hygiene and social distancing norms now that offices are re-opening.