National union home minister Amit shah speaks to all chief ministers seeks their views on the extension of lockdown

New Delhi, PTI The fourth phase of the ongoing lockdown in the country ends on 31 May. The central government has started taking opinions from the Chief Ministers on whether to increase the lockdown or not. Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday spoke to all Chief Ministers on the issue and got their opinion. An official of the Ministry said that in this conversation, Home Minister Shah became aware of the views of the Chief Ministers on increasing the lockdown. Not only this, during the talks, Shah also took information from the Chief Ministers about the areas that the states want to open from June 1.

It is worth noting that till now in the last days of every phase of the lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself knew his opinion from the Chief Ministers through video conferencing but this time Union Home Minister Amit Shah has assumed this responsibility. It is known that when PM Modi was talking with the Chief Ministers, the Union Home Minister was also present. What thoughts the Chief Ministers shared with Shah in this conversation is not yet known, but it is believed that most of the Chief Ministers have suggested to implement the fifth phase of the lockdown.

Another official has been quoted by the news agency PTI as saying that along with the lockdown, the Chief Ministers have suggested to continue the economic activities and slowly return to normal life. However, this has not been officially confirmed yet. According to the report, whether to increase the lockdown or not … the central government will take a decision about this in the next three days. Please also tell that Union Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Goba also discussed the same issue with the Chief Secretaries of the states on Thursday through video conferencing. 

According to reports, Rajiv has come out with talks with Goba that Bengal and Himachal Pradesh are in favor of increasing the lockdown while Uttarakhand is seeking to increase the lockdown with some concessions. The Himachal Pradesh government is in favor of increasing both the lockdown and curfew by June 30. At the same time, Haryana, Punjab and Jharkhand will depend on the central government guidelines. As it is, the cases of Corona continue to increase, which seems to increase the lockdown. However, it is also certain that the economic activities will be continued simultaneously.

Although some reports were making various claims regarding the fifth round of lockdown, but no official information has been revealed by the central government about this. In some reports, it was also said that in the matter of mind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi can make any announcement himself, but the Union Home Ministry has made it clear that these reports have no merit. However, the Cabinet Secretary’s meeting also involved local officials from 13 cities with 70 per cent case indicating that if lockdown-5 is imposed, the hotspot area will be further strengthened.