CPI(M) State secretary K. Balakrishnan on Monday urged Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to convene an all-party meeting to discuss the problem faced by the people, scarcity of goods, difficulties in harvesting of agriculture products and distribution of personal safety equipment to doctors and other medical staff.
In a letter to the Chief Minister, Mr. Balakrishnan requested him to allot time to discuss the issues. He said while it was a matter of great relief that there was no community transmission of COVID-19, there was a view on extending the lockdown in case more and more people tested positive for the pandemic in the coming days.
“People are going through great difficulties. Unless the government releases adequate relief, it will severely affect ordinary people. Shortage in essential commodities has pushed up prices and agricultural products are perishing because farmers are not able to harvest them,” he said.
Mr. Balakrishnan suggested that government could procure the products and sell or distribute directly to the people free of cost.
He made a strong case for increasing the relief amount from ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 as the lockdown, initially slated till March 31, had been extended up to April 14. He pointed out that the ₹1,000 dole was announced when the lockdown was announced by the State government for one week.
Mr. Balakrishnan demanded one month special pay to policemen, sanitary workers, revenue employees, workers of the rural department and electricity board employees.
‘Health Minister missing’
Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K. S. Alagiri on Monday alleged that Minister for Health and Family Welfare C. Vijayabaskar was not to be seen in action in the past week when his job is to monitor and take preventive measures against the outbreak of COVID-19. “But, yesterday (Sunday), he was at his house and lit a lamp there. Mr. Vijayabaskar has been replaced with Health Secretary Beela Rajesh at the daily media briefing. The people want to know the reason behind this sudden change,” Mr. Alagiri said in a statement.
The Congress leader alleged that unlike Kerala that was testing on a large scale, only 38 people per one lakh population were being tested for COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu. “In Kerala, this number is 220 per lakh people. On a national level, it is 42 per lakh. This shows that Tamil Nadu is even behind the national average,” he said.
MDMK leader Vaiko on Monday raised doubts about the status of spread of COVID-19 in Tamil Nadu. In a statement, Mr. Vaiko raised questions over the number of tests conducted people who returned to Tamil Nadu from countries such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Italy, Spain and Germany since December last.
“Thousands entered Tamil Nadu by flight before the screenings began at airports. Were these people identified and tested by officials? Only 38 lakh people have been screened and 4,612 people have been tested for coronavirus. We have to increase testing samples to know the true extent of the spread,” he said.
He said though the disease has spared across the state, the government maintained that COVID-19 has not reached stage 3.
“This sends a wrong signal to people who are not taking the lockdown seriously. The government must explain to the people what is really happening and make them understand the dangers of community spread,” added the MDMK leader.