NEW DELHI: A Group of Ministers meeting chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday to review the situation arising out of COVID-19 pandemic, is said to have felt the need to closely monitor places where public have a tendency to gather in large numbers, such as religious centres, and prevent such gatherings.Increased monitoring through drones was suggested towards this end, sources told TOI after the meeting here.More than one-third of the COVID-positive cases throughout the country have been traced to Tablighi Jamaat congregation in March at its headquarters here in Nizamuddin.The GoM — which was meeting for the fourth time since the COVID-19 lockdown came into force on March 25 — recommended measures to enhance testing facilities in medical laboratories.Inputs, suggestions and feedback from the discussions held at these GoM meetings are conveyed to Prime Minister by the defence minister.The GoM, said sources, on Tuesday appreciated the decision of Union Cabinet not to operate Members of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) for the financial years 2020-21 and 2021-22.It also praised the decision to effect a 30 per cent cut in salary of MPs.The GoM expressed gratitude to thousands of health professionals, security personnel and countless others involved in ensuring smooth operation of essential services and supply chain of food, medicines etc.The ministers were briefed that supply of essential goods was continuing smoothly and no concerns were reported in this regard. GoM noted with satisfaction that essential commodities were available in sufficient quantities and no shortages were reported from anywhere in the country.The GoM appealed to people to follow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion by contributing in feeding needy people, making face masks at home and maintaining social distance.The GoM appreciated the decision to allow agricultural operations during the current harvest season. It also expressed satisfaction over measures put in place to provide shelter and food to migrant workers.The meeting on Tuesday was attended by home minister Amit Shah, finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman, chemicals and fertilisers minister D V Sadananda Gowda, consumer affairs minister Ram Vilas Paswan , agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar, HRD minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, women and child development minister Smriti Zubin Irani , environment minister Prakash Javadekar , railway minister Piyush Goyal , petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi, animal husbandry minister Giriraj Singh, Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, MoS (Housing & Urban Affairs and Civil Aviation) Hardeep Singh Puri; and MoS (home) G Kishan Reddy.