PM, Shah discuss lockdown; curbs may be eased further

PM, Shah discuss lockdown; curbs may be eased further

Decisions Likely On Restarting Metros, Opening Malls & Gyms

Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:30.05.2020

Home minister Amit Shah met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday to discuss the ongoing lockdown as well as the way ahead post-May 31, amid indications that curbs will be further eased with states being allowed more leeway to impose restrictions with key decisions to be taken on restarting Metros and opening malls and facilities like gyms.

The assessment as lockdown 4.0 ends is that the easing has so far not led to a spike — as distinct from a rise — in Covid-19 numbers while the challenge lies in a few states where cases are growing more steeply. The impact of the return of lakhs of migrant workers on the Covid-19 graph is being watched closely and may take some more time to figure out. However, the current trend of cases, though growing in numbers, is seen to be manageable and could encourage more steps to reopen the economy.

The home minister’s meeting with the PM came a day after Shah reached out to all chief ministers to assess the lockdown situation and seek their views on the future strategy to contain the spread of Covid-19. There is a view that while easing has helped, the night “curfew” between 7 pm and 7 am is a help in terms of maintaining discipline of social distancing.

Sources in the home ministry said Shah briefed Modi in detail on his consultations with chief ministers on how the more relaxed lockdown had progressed and the status of coronavirus infections in their jurisdictions, and their expectations on ‘opening up’ after lockdown 4.0 ended.

According to sources, many chief ministers pitched for extending curbs on activities involving large public congregations but at the same time, favoured opening up economic activity as much as possible to allow people to go back to earning their livelihoods.

The Centre, as per sources close to a CM, is considering leaving it largely to the states to demarcate their containment zones and strategies, as also the extent to which they want lockdown curbs to stay. This may mean that barring a small ‘negative’ list of activities prohibited nationwide, such as international flights and reopening of schools and colleges, everything may be left to the states and UTs which can formulate their policies.

Based on Friday’s discussions between Modi and Shah, the containment strategy and norms are likely to be spelt out in the next couple of days.

Residents wait for a medical check-up at a screening centre set up inside a slum in Mumbai on Friday

S Gopalakrishnan moved to PMO as addl secy in key bureaucratic reshuffle

Senior bureaucrat Arun Singhal has been appointed as the chief executive officer of Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), as part of a senior-level bureaucratic reshuffle effected on Friday by the Centre. Singhal is at present special secretary in the department of health and family welfare. S Gopalakrishnan, a 1991-batch IAS officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, has been appointed as additional secretary in the PMO. He is currently serving as additional secretary, ministry of electronics and information technology. Rajendra Kumar, who was recently appointed as director general, Employees’ State Insurance Corporation, will now be additional secretary in the IT ministry in place of Gopalakrishnan. PTI