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Ministers to submit daily report to PMO on Covid-19 steps
The exercise is being undertaken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown, which expires on April 14, across the country on Tuesday and urged people to scale up efforts to fight the spread of Covid-19 that has so far claimed 17 lives.
Union ministers will submit a daily report to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on the steps being taken across the country to rein in the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and the measures being taken to quarantine people, health care facilities and availability of essential commodities amid the social distancing.
The exercise is being undertaken after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a 21-day lockdown, which expires on April 14, across the country on Tuesday and urged people to scale up efforts to fight the spread of Covid-19 that has so far claimed 17 lives.
According to two people aware of the details, a decision was taken in the cabinet meeting earlier this week to put ministers in-charge of states to monitor the situation on a daily basis. For larger states and those with a bigger population, two or more ministers have been assigned to follow up with district magistrates (DMs) or district commissioners (DCs) on the ground situation on a daily basis.
For instance, Union Minister for Law and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad and Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution minister Ram Vilas Paswan will jointly take stock of the ground realities in their home state Bihar daily.
“The ministers will call the DMs or the DCs of every district on a daily basis and take stock of the situation on the ground. This is an attempt to work together and create a synergy between the Centre and the states to strengthen the fight against the pandemic,” said a minister.
The ministers will seek information on the steps being taken to run community kitchens for those in need; assess the preparedness at the hospitals; check the availability of drugs, essential commodities and personal protective equippment such as masks and sanitisers.
“The district administration has been asked to heighten vigil and ensure that isolation facilities are up and running on the ground as there have been cases of people jumping quarantine or withholding their travel history,” said a second minister.
The ministers who have been given charge include Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi for Jharkhand, Nitin Gadkari and Prakash Javadekar for Maharashtra, Nirmala Sitharaman for Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, Kiren Rijiju for Arunachal Pradesh, Gen VK Singh for Assam; Rajnath Singh, Mahendra Pandey, Sanjeev Balyan and Krishan Pal Gujar for Uttar Pradesh and Harsimrat Kaur Badal for Himachal Pradesh.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president JP Nadda on Thursday instructed the party’s state units to ensure community kitchens, which can serve a minimum of 1,000 people daily, are up and running.
He said efforts must be ensured to provide food to the urban poor, migrant workers and those in need.
Nadda held a meeting with all national-level functionaries and state unit heads via video conference.
On Wednesday, the BJP announced that it will feed five crores poor during the 21-day nationwide lockdown.
