'What's the exit plan for COVID-19 lockdown', Congress asks Centre

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, criticising the central government over its "failure" in fighting with COVID-19 crisis, Congress has asked the Centre about its "exit plan" after May 3 -- the deadline for the lockdown. 

The Congress has demanded from the government to help the migrant labourers in reaching their homes and to put Rs 7,500 in the account of the poor, as well as to provide adequate financial assistance to the state governments. Regarding this, a resolution was passed in a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Thursday.

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In the meeting, Congress interim president Sonia Gandhi accused the BJP of spreading hate virus. This was the second CWC meet within a month regarding COVID-19. Gandhi said in the meeting that instead of unitedly fighting COVID-19, BJP is spreading hate virus. Her reference was to the statements made by BJP leaders on Palghar lynching.

The Congress interim president also said that the number of testing is still low. Apart from this, testing kits and PPE kits are not available as per the requirement and the quality of those available is not good, she added.

Stating the lockdown as a "pause button", Congress leader Rahul Gandhi said that one has to think about lockdown in hotspot areas and opening of green zone areas. He said that the solution to the problem of migrant labourers has to be found first.

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Cong passes resolution

In the resolution passed in the CWC, the central government was asked to make a roadmap for the future in the remaining time of lockdown and tell the people about the exit plan after the lockdown. Congress assured the government of cooperation and said that the government should increase the capacity of the health structure and focus on the economy.

The party has suggested the government four points -- prevention and treatment of COVID-19, means of livelihood of the people, availability of essential commodities and economic revival. With this, the Congress has alleged that the Economic Task Force announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi a month ago has not yet presented any action plan to the government.

The party has demanded that the government should make a policy for migrant labourers who want to return to their homes and compensate those who have died. It said that the government should arrange for the return of people stranded in other states. There has also been a demand from the government to make agriculture loans free of interest and a concrete strategy for micro, small and medium scale industries.

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