Chennai: Tamilnadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sanction an adhoc grant of Rs 1,000 crore rupees from the National Disaster Relief Fund (NDRF) immediately to procure medical and protective material to combat the spread of coronavirus pandemic.
In his address at the CM’s meet organised by Modi through video-conferencing, he said PCR and rapid test kits should be supplied by the Centre in large quantities immediately.
He also sought sanction of Rs 3,000 already requested by the State for provision of PPEs, N-95 Masks, and ventilators in sufficient numbers.
He also urged Modi that Tamilnadu may be allocated Rs 9,000 crore grant for launching a comprehensive plan for combating COVID-19 and its aftermath on the State’s economy.
Apart from increasing the the fiscal deficit limits of three per cent of GSDP to 4.5 per cent for financial years 2019-20 and 2020-21, he also sought additional borrowing of 33 per cent above the permitted level for fiscal year 2019-20, be allowed for 2020-21 for combating this pandemic.
Palaniswami also urged the Prime Minister to release 50 per cent of the 2020-21 Finance Commission grants to the Urban and Rural Local bodies, besides the 50 per cent of the revenue deficit grant and the GST compensation due
for December-January 2019-20.
He also said the ways and means limit of the States, which was increased by 30 per cent by RBI, should be doubled and the advances availed in the fiscal year 2020-21 should be made interest-free.
Thanking Modi for releasing of Rs 510 crores under SDRF, he said the 15th Finance Commission methodology has resulted in Tamilnadu getting only 64.65 per cent increase under SDRF, while for other States, it was 120.33 per cent.
Noting that Tamilnadu has been facing many Natural disasters continuously over the years like Vardah in 2016, severe drought followed by Ockhi cyclone in 2017, Gaja cyclone in 2018 and still got lesser allocation under SDRF, he also requested the Prime Minister to sanction an adhoc grant of Rs 1,000 crores
from NDRF immediately to procure medical and protective materials.
Thanking Modi for the support and guidance in tackling the COVID-19 challenge, Palaniswami said the lockdown was beig implemented strictly in the State and a Task Force headed by the Chief Secretary, and 12 teams headed by senior IAS officers were recommending various steps to arrest the spread of the virus and handling the infected people.
Hinting extension of the lockdown as recommended by the19-member medical expert panel in view of the increasing number of positive cases, he also appealed to the Prime Minister and other Chief Ministers not to resume train and flight services and also not to allow inter-state passengers movement.
Urging Modi to ensure smooth supply of essential commodities like Dhal, Spices, etc., from other States through Railways and facilitate inter-State movement of these goods through lorries, the Chief Minister said at this hour of prolonged lockdown, food crisis should not be allowed in the country.
Suggesting that agriculture should be given total support, Palaniswami also requested Modi to announce a special package for Agriculture and Horticulture promotion.
He said, “if the lockdown is extended, I request an additional funding as well as allotment of essential commodities to support the unorganised sector workers, agricultural labourers etc by providing Rs 2,000 per family.”
Pointing out that around 2.10 lakh international passengers were screened and 93,146 of them were under home quarantine for 28 days, the Chief Minister said massive disinfection of all public places was being done by all Local Bodies, regularly.
He said as on date 8,410 samples have been tested, 1891 persons have been isolated and 911 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in Tamilnadu.
The residential area of these persons identified as positive have been brought under a containment plan, in which the entire area of five km radius was cordoned off and door to door survey was being done on a war footing to contain the spread.
He said he had also written to the Union Health Minister for provision of two lakh rapid test kits for testing of the contacts immediately. The Health Department has identified 32,371 isolation beds, 5,934 ICU beds in Government and private sector so far.
He also recalled that an immediate relief package of Rs 3,280 crore was sanctioned by the state and had provided Rs 1,000 per family to nearly two crore families, along with free ration commodities.
All registered street vendors, all unorganized sector labourers, construction workers, auto drivers were provided with an additional Rs 1,000 and migrant labourers, who were stranded in Tamilnadu, were being taken care by providing stay, free ration and cooked food.