NEW DELHI: Home minister Amit Shah on Saturday held a review meeting with senior officials of his ministry to assess the situation arising from the COVID-19 lockdown and if essential goods and services were reaching the people as required by guidelines issued earlier by home ministry for enforcement of the lockdown.

The review meeting was attended by ministers of state G Kishan Reddy and Nityanand Rai , Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and senior officials of various home ministry departments manning the control room. “The meeting reviewed measures being taken to ensure supply of items of daily need to the people, as per directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi , and also assessed the situation relating to COVID-19 pandemic,” Shah tweeted after the meeting.

This is the third such review meeting taken by the home minister since the Prime Minister announced the 21-day lockdown starting March 25.

“The Modi government is fully committed to ensuring each citizen’s life, health and security,” Shah said in another tweet that listed a link to home ministry guidelines issued to the states/UTs on March 24 for implementation of the lockdown. The guidelines have been modified twice, first on March 25 and thereafter on March 27.

Interestingly, the ministers and officials observed social distancing at the review meeting, with adequate gap incorporated into the seating arrangement.

