PM Chairs 7 Back-To-Back Marathon Meetings; Fire Drills, Safety Audits And Cyclone Remal Top Agenda

New Delhi: With the Lok Sabha exit polls 2024 projecting a massive win for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA), Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held marathon meetings on the first 100-day agenda of the new government, which will be sworn in after the Lok Sabha poll results are announced on June 4.

Confident of his government's return to power, PM Modi had on an earlier occasion too, directed his Council of Ministers to prepare an agenda of their respective ministries.

The prime minister held back-to-back seven meetings through the day, news agency PTI reported.

In a meeting to review the existing heatwave conditions in several parts of the country, the PM stressed on the need to ensure regular fire and electrical safety audits in hospitals and other public places amid recent fire incidents that claimed several lives. 

According to an official statement, PM Modi also instructed officials to conduct proper drills on preventing and handling incidents of fire, on a regular basis. He also said that regular drills for the maintenance of fire lines in forests and productive utilisation of biomass must be planned. 

At the meeting, PM Modi was briefed on the forecasts predicting continue heatwave in parts of Rajasthan, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh. Monsoon this year is likely to be normal and above normal in most parts of the country and below normal in parts of peninsular India, the statement said. 

The prime minister chaired another meeting on the post-Cyclone Remal situation, especially in the northeast region. During the meeting, PM Modi was briefed about its impact in the affected states, including the loss of lives and damage to houses and other properties due to landslides and floods in Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura. 

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams have carried out evacuation, airlifting and road clearance operations, PTI reported, citing another official statement. The Union home ministry is in regular touch with state governments, it said.

PM Modi, on his part, reportedly told officials that the Centre will continue to extend full support to the states affected by the cyclone. 

Top bureaucrats were part of the meetings that the prime minister chaired. 

The prime minister also chaired a meeting to review the preparations to celebrate the World Environment Day on June 5. 

Criticising PM Modi for holding several meetings, including a long brainstorming session to review the 100-day agenda of the new government, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said these were "pressure tactics" to send out a signal to the bureaucracy and the administrative structure.

The Congress slammed the meeting as a "mind game" being played by the prime minister and claimed that he was on his way out.

Much before the Lok Sabha polling exercise began, PM Modi had set in motion the exercise for different government ministries to prepare the 100-day agenda for the new government. He had asked his Council of Ministers to prioritise programmes and initiatives for the first 100 days.