NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the Chief Ministers of ten states and reviewed the coronavirus COVID-19 situation in the country and further measures required to check its spread on Tuesday (August 11, 2020).
According to reports, PM Modi’s interaction with the Chief Ministers via video-conference began around 11 AM. He interacted with the CMs of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
The PM told the chief ministers, “We are able to work as a team in fight against COVID-19.’’
During the meeting, the Chief ministers of Tamil and Punjab sought more funds from the Centre to deal with the COVID-9 pandemic.
“We’ve received Rs 512.64 crore from Centre in 2 tranches under Emergency Response and Health Systems Preparedness package out of Rs 712.64 crore allotted to state. I request this package may be stepped up to Rs 3,000 crore as my earlier request,” Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K Palaniswami
Said at the video conference meet with PM.
“As we have already fully exhausted State Disaster Response & Mitigation Fund, I also request an ad-hoc grant of Rs 1,000 crore from NDRF immediately to fight pandemic. Releasing pending CMR subsidy of Rs 1,321 crore at this time, will facilitate paddy procurement, the Tamil Nadu CM added.
To make up for the shortfall, Tamil Nadu may be allocated 9,000 crore rupees special grant to combat COVID-19 and it’s aftereffects on the State’s economy. The GST compensation for April-June, 2020 may be released early,” the Tamil Nadu CM urged the PM.
On his turn, Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh sought from PM Narendra Modi a liberal financial package for states to fill the collection gap caused by the pandemic, and also flexibility on Covid-related terms of expenditure in SDRF.
During his interaction with PM Modi, Capt Amarinder Singh said current cap of 35% in State Disaster Relief Fund for Covid related expenditure, as per MHA guidelines, is not sufficient to meet current requirements.
Citing the state’s rising cases of COVID, which have gone up to 24891 with 604 deaths, the CM urged PM Modi to review the UGC decision on mandatory exams for exit classes to be held by September 30.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh is also present in the meeting. The meeting assumes significance as these 10 states have a high population density and the idea is to bring down the virus caseload. This is the seventh video conference of the Prime Minister with the states CMs since the outbreak of the pandemic.
This is also the first meeting of the PM with chief ministers during Unlock 3.0 on the coronavirus pandemic.
Since March, PM Modi had interacted with the CM and reviewed the coronavirus pandemic in India. During his interaction, the PM had called for strict adherence to Centre’s guidelines and the social distancing norms to check the spread of Coronavirus.
India, the third country worst hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, recorded a spike of 53,601 coronavirus cases on Tuesday, pushing the total tally to 22,68,675. The country tested a record over 871 deaths in a single day.
The number of recoveries mounted to almost 16 lakh, more than twice the active cases. Out of the total cases, 6,39,929 are active cases while 15,83,489 have recovered from the disease and 45,257 people have lost their lives in the fight against the deadly virus.
Notably, India recorded the highest number of recoveries in a single day at 47,746. The recovery rate has gone up to 69.79 per cent. On Monday, the government tested 6,98,290 samples. A total of 2,52,81,848 samples have been tested so far.
Maharashtra remained the worst-hit state with a total of 5,15,332 cases and 17,757 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu with 2,96,901 cases and 4,927 deaths. The southern state is followed by Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Delhi, and Uttar Pradesh.
Globally, the overall number of Covid-19 cases has surpassed the 20 million mark, while the deaths have increased to over 7.34 lakh, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
As of Tuesday morning, the total number of cases stood at 2,00,11,186 and the fatalities rose to 7,34,664, the University`s Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed in its latest update.
The US accounted for the world`s highest number of infections and fatalities at 50,89,416 and 1,63,425, respectively, according to the CSSE. Brazil came in second place with 30,57,470 infections and 1,01,752 deaths.
Source: Zee News