"People's Will," PM Modi Tells Chief Ministers On Easing Lockdown Curbs

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a virtual meet with Chief Ministers today, said while his government's efforts were for everyone to stay where they are in the fight against the spread of coronavirus, certain decisions had to be changed because it was "human nature" to want to go home.

The meeting with the chief ministers lasted six hours. PM Modi said problems have increased wherever social distancing norms were not followed. He said the biggest challenge is to ensure that the infection does not spread to villages, sources said.

During the interaction, some Chief Ministers sought measures to expand the coronavirus testing infrastructure, while many also demanded fiscal support as the pandemic has hit hard economic activities.

A "balanced strategy will have to be adopted for the road ahead", news agency Press Trust of India reported quoting unnamed sources.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said he wants all economic activities to be allowed in the national capital, except those in containment zones.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the centre wanted a strict lockdown enforcement but was also resuming train services. The Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Telangana opposed resumption of passenger train services, which are scheduled to begin tomorrow.

The Home Ministry has said only asymptomatic people with confirmed tickets will be allowed to travel in 15 trains to be operational from Tuesday. Online bookings began for these trains on Monday evening, after some delay due to a technical glitch, and some routes got fully booked within ten minutes.

The Haryana government asked the centre to allow the states to take decisions at their own level to resume the industrial and economic activities.

In a bid to increase economic activity, Karnataka wants the red, orange and green zone classification scrapped. "Only containment zones have to be identified and strictly cordoned. 50 to 100 meters around known clusters may be declared as containment zones. Commercial activities including public transport to be allowed in Non-Containment Zones," the state government said in a statement.