NEW DELHI: All eyes are now on Centre as ten out of eleven chief ministers, who attended the video-conference meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday (April 11, 2020), have called for extending the coronavirus COVID-19 lockdown, which is set to end on April 14.
During the meeting, the chief ministers of Delhi and Punjab suggested extension of the nationwide lockdown till April 30 to Prime Minister Modi, which was backed by other CMs.
During the interaction held via video conferencing, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suggested extension of the national lockdown by at least a fortnight after April 14.
According to Zee Media sources, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also suggested extension of the lockdown till April 30.
The Chief Ministers of Delhi, West Bengal, Punjab, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Chhatisgarh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh suggested to PM that the lockdown should be extended. Political leaders like Mayawati and MK Stalin have also demanded extension in COVID-19 lockdown.
PM Modi, accompanied by some senior officials, including from the Union Health Ministry, was wearing a white mask during the meeting which was also attended by chief ministers - Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Manohar Lal (Haryana), K Chandrashekhar Rao (Telangana) and Nitish Kumar (Bihar).
The cloth mask worn by the Prime Minister was a gesture towards the use of masks, as the central government, last week, said that people can use homemade, reusable cloth mask as an alternative to retail ones.
Prime Minister Modi told the Chief Ministers that he is available round the clock. “I am always available. Any chief minister can speak to me and give suggestions (on COVID-19) anytime. We should stand together shoulder-to-shoulder,” PM Modi is understood to have said during the meeting.
He said that we all should stand together shoulder-to-shoulder in the fight against this disease. The Central government is understood to have also obtained views on the issue from all the relevant agencies and stakeholders involved in the efforts to contain the spread of the pandemic.
The video conference, which began at 11 am, came amidst indications that the Central Government may extend the nationwide lockdown with some possible relaxations even as Punjab and Odisha have already announced extending the lockdown beyond April 14 when the current spell of 21-day shutdown ends on Tuesday.
The Union Home Ministry has sought views of state governments on various aspects, including whether more categories of people and services need to be exempted. In the current lockdown, only essential services are exempted.
This is for the second time the Prime Minister is interacting with the chief ministers via video link after the lockdown was imposed. During his April 2 interaction with chief ministers, PM Modi had pitched for a "staggered" exit from the ongoing lockdown.
Addressing floor leaders of various parties who have representation in Parliament, PM Modi had on Wednesday made it clear that the lockdown cannot be lifted in one go, asserting that the priority of his government is to "save each and every life".
According to an official statement after the Wednesday interaction, the prime minister told these leaders that states, district administrations and experts have suggested extension of the lockdown to contain the spread of the virus.
Before the lockdown was announced on March 24, the Prime Minister had interacted with the chief ministers on March 20 to discuss ways and means to check the spread of the novel coronavirus.
