JOIN USCentre ropes in Governors, L-Gs in fight against Covid-19, seeks consensus
With Covid cases clocking an upward tick with each passing day and Chief Ministers in many Opposition states frequently raising questions on Centre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday roped in Governors and Lieutenant Governors of all states and UTs, asking them to harness the combined power of all community organisations, political parties, NGOs and social institutions in this fight.
While Modi said that Governors are an important link to ensure better coordination between State Governments and society, Naidu expressed confidence that the Governors, will provide the high level of facilitative leadership in their respective states that will help India emerge successful in this battle.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also asked Governors to hold all party meetings in their respective states to firm up a collaborative approach.
The Vice President called upon the Governors to bring up a coordinated front by leading all-party meetings in their respective states and engaging with civil society organisations to spread awareness about Covid-appropriate behaviour. The Vice president said that a 'Team India spirit' cutting across policy lines should be adopted, and in this regard, Governors as the 'Guardians of the State' could 'guide' the state governments. Naidu asked states to keep political differences aside and act unitedly as a team.
Recognising that the challenge is formidable, Naidu noted that every Governor, as the constitutional head of state, has an important role in the fight against this pandemic and wanted them to collaborate actively with their respective Chief Ministers and act as consensus builders.
Centre's reach out to Governors and L-Gs came in the backdrop of the recent trading of charges on Covid management between states and Centre and the Congress-BJP sparring on issues like vaccination strategy.
Discussing the rise in the number of Covid cases, the Prime Minister said that in this stage of the fight against the virus, the country stands to gain from last year’s experience and improved healthcare capacity and assured that the government is committed to ensuring adequate availability of vaccines.
Doing some pep talk amid panic building around the pandemic, the Prime Minister noted that the country has become Aatmanirbhar with respect to kits and other material related to testing and most of the products related to testing are also available on the GeM portal. Prime Minister emphasized the significance of increasing tracking, tracing and testing, and said that RTPCR testing needs to be increased from 60% to 70%.
Modi suggested that the Governors can actively engage to ensure that social institutions collaborate seamlessly with the state governments towards micro containment as their social network can help ensure an increase in the capacity of ambulances, ventilators and oxygen in hospitals. Holding that Governors are an important pillar of Janbhagidari in this battle against, Modi said the role of the Governors, through appropriate utilization of their social capacity, thus becomes all the more critical to achieving this.
Holding that Governors are an important link to ensure better coordination between state Governments and society, he said their coordination with state governments and guidance to institutions of the State will further strengthen the nation’s resolve to fight the pandemic. He also highlighted their role in ensuring better utilization of facilities at University and College campuses like NCC and NSS had done last year in counter-Covid strategy.
Expressing his concern over the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the country, Naidu cautioned that the healthcare infrastructure will inevitably come under tremendous pressure. He called for special focus on 10 states that account for 85% of national cases and 89% deaths reported in the last 14 days.
Naidu said the Union government has decided the Covid-19 strategy in close collaboration with the state governments and called upon everyone to keep political differences aside and act unitedly as a team.
Endorsing the Prime Minister’s suggestion for an all-party meeting, he said it will help in brainstorming new ideas, sharing of knowledge and exchange of best practices and effective understanding of field concerns and various perspectives. This will help us accelerate the overall Covid-19 management efforts, he added.