CM urges Modi to extend lockdown till April end
Bhubaneswar: Two days after becoming the first state in the country to increase the lockdown till April 30, chief minister Naveen Patnaik a prior weekend not too long ago urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to do the same across the country to have the spread of novel coronavirus. The 21-day national lockdown is supposed to end on April 14.
Naveen also suggested that flight and train services should not resume before the end of the month, the principle minister’s office stated. The go on to suspend flight and train services is aimed at restricting movement of those, which the state government believes is a vital step to snap the transmission chain.
Naveen was speaking to Modi through videoconference, the second since March 30, as part of the Prime Minister’s initiative to reach out to the chief ministers and discuss strategy to work on the pandemic.
Realising the importance that agriculture plays in Odisha and the country, Naveen urged Modi to ensure continuation of farming and allied activities including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) by keeping social distancing guidelines in mind.
Only if around 70 per cent of the state’s population depend on agriculture, Naveen’s cabinet has already taken a decision to allow farming activities in the state as the kharif season starts in the last week of April. The state government has also decided he would allow MGNREGS work to ensure jobs for rural population during this crisis period.
Chief secretary Asit Tripathy has already informed the Centre about the above three points in a letter to Union Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba on Thursday. “Extension of lockdown is essential to match spread of the pandemic. It’s a welcome move that the PM has consulted all states on the issue of extension of lockdown, ” said a senior state government official watching the videoconference.
The chief minister also highlighted the plight of Odia migrant workers who are stranded in many different states due to the lockdown.
“People from Odisha stranded consist of states should be taken care of by the concerned states. Our state will in order to coordinate, ” Naveen said.
Official estimates said around 1. 5 lakh Odia migrant workers are stuck in states like Delhi and National Capital Region, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Telangana and Karnataka. The state government has set up a helpline to reach out to the migrants to make certain that they get basic needs.
Naveen’s request on the welfare of stranded migrant workers assumes significance in the wake of Friday’s violence in Surat, when heaps of migrant workers went on the rampage demanding permission to return home fearing that the nationwide lockdown would be extended.
Over 7 lakh Odia people, mostly from Ganjam and surrounding districts, have migrated to Surat to work in textiles, chemicals and diamond cutting industries.
Requesting Modi to provide for the welfare of Odia migrant workers, Naveen assured that his government would carry on to take care of workers from other states.
New york state government treats migrant workers from the other states as guest workers. Around 77, 000 such guest workers have been accommodated in around 2532 transit camps in different districts and provided with food and medical care. The state labour department has set up a special cell to oversee the task.
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