Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Friday demanded that EMIs and interest on loans, given to SMEs and MSMEs (for which a 3-month moratorium had been earlier granted) be waived, to enable them restart their livelihood, and the Centre set aside at least 5-10% of the GDP as economic stimulus to revive the economy.

In a statement, Mr. Alagiri also said the Centre should immediately provide at least ₹5,000 each to the poor of the country, who make up almost 60% of the population.

“No one knows what plans the BJP government at the Centre has to revive the livelihood of the people. What is the economic stimulus plan of this government? Nobody knows,” he said.

Mr. Alagiri said in Tamil Nadu, agriculture has been hit hard, and other activities too have been affected. “The unemployment rate has increased in the State. Nearly 1.80 lakh traders’ livelihood has gone for a toss. They used to generate ₹70,000 crore in revenue and this has almost come to a standstill,” he said.

He also said the Centre must set aside ₹5 lakh crore as an initial step to enable all sections of traders, industries and MSMEs to restart their lives.