Chief Ministers from Bihar, Odisha, Gujarat, Haryana, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Mizoram and the Union Territory of Puducherry spoke with the Prime Minister on Monday.
Among those present at the virtual meet, included Home Minister Amit Shah, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan and top officials from the PMO and Union Health Ministry. The chief ministers who attended the meeting included Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi), Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala), Uddhav Thackeray (Maharashtra), E K Palaniswami (Tamil Nadu), Conard Sangma (Meghalaya) Trivendram Singh Rawat (Uttarakhand) and Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh).
The video conference begun at 10 am to discuss an exit plan and how it should be implemented in a phased manner was also discussed in the meeting.
Apart from the exit plan, the Chief Ministers also discussed the responses to the partial relaxations granted on April 20. The situation regarding test kits and the protection of doctors was also on the agenda of discussion.
However, most of the states have decided to extend the lockdown in COVID-19 hotspots and allow activities in the green zones.
It is learnt that all the states wish to continue the restrictions on inter-state transportation including air and railway transport. Therefore, the ban on such travel would continue post May 3. Assuring that the economy is in good shape, there has been no announcement or assurance on the demands made by various states for more funds and economic package.
Chief Minister of Meghalaya Conrad Sangma tweeted that his government expressed its wish to extend the lockdown post May 3 with relaxation on activities in Green zones.
At the video conference called by the Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji and Hon’ble Home Minister, @AmitShah ji. We have mooted to continue with the lockdown post May 3rd with relaxation on activities in Green Zones or Non-Covid affected districts in #Meghalaya.#CovidUpdates pic.twitter.com/rMrS6j3cPP
— Conrad Sangma (@SangmaConrad) April 27, 2020
The centre is expected to list the cap on the fiscal deficit which is anticipated to increase as vast amount will be needed for relief for the coronavirus pandemic. In the last meeting held between the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers of states, almost all the large states have put their views.
Prime Minister had announced a lockdown on March 24 for 21 days which was scheduled to end on April 14. But after the thorough discussions with the Chief Ministers of different states, the lockdown was extended till May 3.
Even after the lockdown, the cases took huge spike as when the lockdown was imposed, only 550 cases were on the chart which has crossed 28,000 mark now.