Lockdown Should Be Limited To Red Zones: Jagan To Modi

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday apprised Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the prevailing lockdown scenario in the state and the hardships that its people were facing due to it.

Participating in the video conference of the Prime Minister with the Chief Ministers of the various states, Jagan said that the state government had notified 141 contaminated clusters in the state. Effective lockdown, house-to-house monitoring and extensive testing were the other major initiatives that were being taken up across the state to contain the spread of the virus, he said.

The AP CM however emphasized the urgent need to resume some economic activity in the state by limiting the lockdown to only the 37 red zones and 44 orange zones where the spread of the novel coronavirus was more pronounced.

The CM said that agriculture, which was the lifeline of the Indian economy and the source of employment for 62% of the workforce in the state, had been crippled, and that the farmers were facing huge losses.

He also briefed the PM on how migrant workers and daily wage-earners across many sectors including agriculture, aquaculture and horticulture were reeling under the prolonged shutdown.

He informed the PM that of the 676 mandals in AP, 595 had been categorized as green zones, which were safe and had no impact of Covid-19. The lockdown should be lifted at least partially in these mandals, he opined.