india

Updated: Apr 18, 2020 15:48 IST

As the government gets ready to ease the lockdown imposed to check the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), a group of ministers (GoM) on Saturday met and discussed issues relating to restoration of partial economic activity in “non-hotspot zones” from April 20, two officials familiar with the deliberations said.

The GoM on Covid-19, chaired by defence minister Rajnath Singh, has met five times since March 25 to review the country’s preparedness to combat the pandemic, spell out measures to provide relief to people and pass on the inputs of various ministries to the Prime Minister’s Office.

“We discussed ways to mitigate the hardships faced by the people and the role ministries can play in providing relief to people,” Singh tweeted after chairing the meeting at his residence.

He said the guidelines to allow limited activities after April 20 and the measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India amid the coronavirus crisis were also appreciated.

The GoM met a day after the PMO held a preparatory meeting with officials of seven key ministries to go through the fine details of partially relaxing the ongoing lockdown, a move aimed at restarting activity in select sectors of the Indian economy.

As reported by Hindustan Times on Friday, the meeting, chaired by PM Narendra Modi’s Principal Secretary P K Mishra, primarily focused on getting workers to factories and back, and on the systems and processes states need to put in place for effective implementation of the guidelines for a partial exit from the lockdown as laid out in a home ministry order of April 15.

The partial relaxation of restrictions will allow economic activities to restart to an extent and also provide much-needed employment to people, especially daily wage earners.

“The GoM appreciated disbursement of Rs 31,000 crore to more than 33.25 crore beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana to mitigate the problems of economically weaker sections of population,” said one of the officials cited above.

The second official said the ministers also examined suggestions to enlist services of retired doctors, health professionals and medical students in the final year of graduation to strengthen the national effort to combat the fast spreading disease.

He said the GoM also reiterated its appeal to citizens to observe social distancing norms and stay away from participating in mass prayers or religious congregations.