5 questions for Modi government in Congress’ demand for national Covid plan

Congress has questioned government’s testing strategy and its economic strategy to contain the impact of coronavirus

The Congress party on Sunday stepped up pressure on the Narendra Modi government over its handling of the coronavirus pandemic crisis by demanding a national action plan to contain the disease and its economic fallout. The party listed out five areas, it felt, must be addressed by a national plan so that the country and the state governments have clarity going forward.

Congress party has asked the Prime Minister to share a national plan with chief ministers of state tomorrow. (Mohd Zakir/HT PHOTO/Representative)

The party sent out a series of tweets through its official handle listing out the 5 core areas of focus the party felt needed further attention from the government in the form of a clear action plan. “A month of lockdown and there is hardly any clarity from the government on a number of issues. Does the govt have a national plan?”

The party called attention to the following five areas in its tweet.

-Procurement of more kits and increased testing

-Lifting the lockdown

-Economic revival

-Stranded migrant workers

-MSMEs

On the issue of testing, Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari had spelt out party’s stance that questioned Centre’s less-than-optimal utilisation of its full testing capacity. Tiwari said the government needed to explain if it was deliberately testing less in order to play down the true magnitude of the pandemic in the country.

“If India’s capacity is to carry out one lakh tests a day, then what is the reason for capping the tests at 39,000?,” Tiwari had asked.

On the issue of lifting the lockdown, the Congress party said the country and the state governments needed a clear plan of action since the disease was not going to go away post-May 3—when the second phase of the ongoing national lockdown ends.

The party also repeated its concerns over economic revival and accused the government of taking confusing decisions.

The BJP government is making all efforts to increase the pain instead of reducing it. It is stopping the dearness allowance when it is dearly needed. It is cutting down on the Indian military’s needs. The government has lost direction,” a party tweet said.

Another asked, “Why is the government not withdrawing projects like Central Vista and diverting the funds to fight COVID-19?”.

The Central vista project is an ambitious plan in the pipelines, aimed to revamp the area around India Gate in the capital that houses government offices and Parliament among others.

On the issue of MSMEs and economic revival, Congress wanted to know when the second dose of financial assistance will be provided to industries. “Despite industry voices demanding assistance, why is the BJP government not announcing the second financial assistance package? What is the Govt waiting for,” the party asked.

On the issue of migrant workers, Congress has been demanding that arrangements be made to send them home since they are stuck in states where they work. Several state governments have indicated that they want to move migrants back to their homes in a phased manner which doesn’t harm the containment efforts.