States should decide on exit plan: Baghel

States should decide on exit plan: Baghel

Chhattisgarh CM writes to Modi

10/05/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

States should have the power to decide on the strategy to come out of the lockdown, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He has argued against the centralisation of the fight against COVID-19, saying the States should have been empowered to demarcate containment zones and decide on which economic activities to start and how.

Practical difficulties

In his May 8 letter, Mr. Baghel highlighted the difficulties in the demarcation of red zones by the Union government. What if fresh cases were detected in a green zone which had already been opened up for basic economic activities, after the Centre announced the demarcation of zones based on the number of cases, he asked. “If a zone which had been opened up is again declared a red zone, whatever little economic activities that had restarted here will have to be shut down again. If an area that has been opened up after a long wait has to be closed down once again, we will only create a situation of unrest and uncertainty,” he said.

“To end all these uncertainties, it is essential that while observing all necessary precautions we slowly unroll our usual economic activities. And it would only be appropriate that the State governments are given the full rights to operate the economic activities,” he said.