JOIN USPM Modi holds one-on-one conversation with 11 CMs, two LGs on Covid-19 situation in last three days
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday spoke to Chief Ministers of Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu on the Covid-19 situation.
Changing track, Modi has this time been speaking to Chief Ministers, LGs of Union Territories individually days after his group meeting with Chief Ministers on April 23 ran into a row with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal going public live telecast of the meeting, which was criticised by Centre.
With his telephonic conversation with four Chief Ministers on Saturday, Modi has already spoken to CMs of 11 states and two UTs.
On May 6, Modi had spoken to CMs of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Jharkhand LGs of Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir about the Covid-19 situation in their states and UTs. On May 7, the Prime Minister spoke to Chief Ministers of Manipur, Tripura and Sikkim on pandemic management.
The Prime Minister's individual conversation with CMs is happening at a time when the Covid-19 explosion is being felt in India's hinterlands, something regarding which Modi has time and again spoken urging the states to check the spread of the disease in villages. In the last meeting with CMs, Modi had noted that the virus is affecting several states as well as Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities at once and called for working together to fight the pandemic with collective power.
However, the Centre has increasingly come under criticism from the Chief Ministers on its Covid-19 handling be it Kejriwal last month of Heman Soren of Jharkhand who attacked Modi for doing only his "Mann Ki Baat" during the telephonic call with him.
On Saturday when Modi spoke with the states with high caseloads like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh, a record 4,187 Covid-19 fatalities in a day took India's death toll to 2,38,270, while 4,01,078 new infections were reported during the period, pushing the tally of a total number of infections to 2,18,92,676.
While the BJP Chief Ministers Shivraj Singh Chouhan (MP) and Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jairam Thakur spoke of the Centre's help to the states, the CMs of the Opposition-ruled states Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu cited their problems.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has urged the central government to allow states to develop their own applications for the Covid-19 vaccination programme. A statement issued by the Maharashtra Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said that during their talk, Thackeray reiterated the demand for adequate oxygen supply to the state.
Maharashtra, which recorded 54,022 new cases of Covid-19 in a day, has been the worst-affected state during the second wave of the pandemic. Tamil Nadu has reported 26,465 new cases and it announced on Saturday a two-week "total lockdown" across the state to curb the spread of the pandemic, starting May 10. Tamil Nadu, which had on Friday urged the Prime Minister to address the issue of the "severe crisis" of oxygen availability, on Saturday requested the Centre to enhance the medical oxygen allocation to Tamil Nadu to 500 metric tonnes.
Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh reported 11,708 and 4,177 Covid-19 cases respectively in a day. There are already reports of a hiatus between the figures of deaths issued by certain governments including MP and the actual number of deaths in states.