Centre wants states to lead fight against Covid 19 pandemic, industry captains say ‘all’s well’

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The fight to contain spread of Covid 19 will have to be led by state authorities, sources said. The Centre, which has made it clear that it will not impose a nationwide lockdown, does not want a one size fits all formula this time.   Depending on the situation in the states, each state government will have to frame individual measures pertaining to restrictions of movement of local lockdown.</p>
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Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced imposition of a nationwide lockdown from March 25.</p>
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This time, individual state governments have announced measures to restrict movement to break the chain of transmission.</p>
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“The Centre will not take any step, the states will have to devise their own strategies which they feel will be best suited,” Gopal Krishna Agarwal, spokesperson of BJP said.</p>
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Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday took to Twitter to inform that she has spoken with industry chambers on the situation. She also said that the Centre is working closely with the states to fight the pandemic. “Spoke on telephone with each of the following business/Chamber leaders. Took their inputs on industry/Association related matters. Informed them that GoI at various levels from @PMOIndia is responding to #Covid management. Working together with states for lives and livelihoods,” Sitharaman tweeted.</p>
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Sharad Kumar Saraf, president, Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) said that since there is no nationwide lockdown, there is no threat to the exports sector. “Work is going on as schedule and there has been no cancellation of orders,” he said.</p>
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India, which has thrashed out a stimulus package of Rs 29.87 lakh crore — equivalent to 15 per cent of the GDP — in a bid to contain the impact of the virus on health and economy.</p>
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Despite a surge in Covid 19 cases, businesses continued to remain optimistic as the Covid 19 vaccine drive is picking up in the country. “Since there is no nationwide lockdown, there will be no major dent on the economic activities..the restrictions will hit economic activities only peripherally,” Saraf said.</p>
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The focus now will be to ramp up the vaccination drive.</p>
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“The situation cannot be compared with last year though the number of cases is rising much faster. Last year, the virus was new and the world was grappling with it, even the medical authorities had no clear knowledge of the virus. Today, the situation is different. The vaccine is already out. We need to focus on the vaccination drive,” Deepak Sood, secretary general, Assocham said.</p>
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