Prime Minister Narendra Modi Consults Chief Ministers, States Bat For #Lockdown Extension Till April 30

Picture : Twitter / ANI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conference with all chief Ministers wearing masks had discussed whether to extend the 21-day lockdown which ends on April 14. On March 24 , Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced a national lockdown for 21 days .

The video conference comes amid indications that the central government may extend the lockdown across the country beyond April 14 after several states have favoured the extension to contain the fast-spreading virus.

Before the CM conference , Odisha had  taken a lead with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announcing the extension till April 30 and urged the Centre to do the same .  Punjab followed soon announcing May 1 deadline. Participating in the conference Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh suggested that the national lockdown should be extended by at least a fortnight.

Further , Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal asked the Centre to extend the pan-India lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic till April 30.

The Prime Minister Narendra Modi reportedly told the chief ministers that all their suggestions will be taken into consideration and that the Centre and states are united in this fight.

“I am available to you all 24×7. States and Centre need to work together. All your suggestions will be taken into consideration. We will move shoulder to shoulder as we fight Covid-19 together,” he said.

“If we follow a common strategy, we can defeat coronavirus and the losses that we are incurring due to this crisis,” the PM Modi added.

This is the second meeting between the PM and the state chief ministers ever since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. In his April 2 interaction , Modi had batted for a “staggered” exit from the on-going lockdown.