Covid-19: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Palaniswami Pitches For Central Support

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami on Thursday pitched for the central government’s support to the state's initiatives for the coronavirus pandemic like prevention and relief measures during his meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi through video conferencing.

Palaniswami, in the second such meeting convened by the Prime Minister to discuss ways to check the spread of coronavirus with all Chief Ministers, detailed the initiatives being pursued by his government in thwarting the contagion in Tamil Nadu which occupies the third slot in the country in terms of the total number of infections.

As many as 110 new cases were reported in 15 districts of the state on April 1 bringing the total count to 234. A brief release here said Palaniswami detailed Modi "about the preventive and relief measures being pursued by the state government and the Central help needed for such initiatives."

Health and Revenue Ministers C Vijayabaskar and RB Udhayakumar respectively, top officials including Chief Secretary K Shanmugam, Director General of Police, JK Tripathy were also present when Palaniswami deliberated with Modi from the Secretariat at Fort St George here. Issues like migrants' welfare, availability of essentials and contact tracing of Tablighi Jamat participants were also likely to have been discussed and information on such aspects is expected.

In Delhi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah, and top bureaucrats were present along with the Prime Minister. This is for the second time the prime minister is holding a video conference with the chief ministers after the spread of coronavirus, and the first after the 21-day lockdown came into force. The lockdown was enforced on March 24. According to the union health ministry, the death toll due to coronavirus touched 50 on Thursday. The total number of positive cases has risen to 1,965 in the country.