Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao’s pitch: Extend national lockdown till April end

HYDERABAD: Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao wants the current 21-day nationwide lockdown to be extended beyond April 14 and made an appeal to PM Narendra Modi as well. He made the suggestion even as UP’s Yogi Adityanath and some other CMs have said that the lockdown would be lifted on April 15.
“To the best of my knowledge and experience, a lockdown is the only weapon to contain spread of coronavirus in the country.It should continue for one or two weeks after April 14,” KCR told reporters on Monday, adding that curbs should be lifted after April end.
Quoting a report by Boston Consulting Group, he said BCG had said that for countries like India, lockdown was the only mantra to deal with the pandemic and it should continue till June 3. As many as 22 countries have declared a complete lockdown and another 90 have implemented a partial lockdown, he added. “It is not easy to end lockdown. I appeal to PM to take the view of CMs, intellectuals and economists on this issue,” the CM said.
“If the lockdown is withdrawn, there would be chaos in the state. What will happen if people come on the roads in huge numbers? Who will be responsible for recurrence of cases?” KCR asked. “Countries such as Singapore lifted curbs on movement of people and again declared a lockdown as the pandemic cases resurfaced. Even China could see a second wave of infections going by the current situation.”
The CM said he was aware of the economic implications of the lockdown. “We can revive the economy but cannot bring back precious lives of people. Telangana gets about Rs 400 crore to Rs 430 crore revenue a day. For the past six days in this month, we got only Rs 6 crore instead of Rs 2,400 crore. The entire country is facing a similar situation.”
KCR backs lockdown move
The chief minister also added that with the lockdown, the country was able to control Covid-19 cases. Only 4,314 cases were reported and 122 people died across the country. International journals also appreciated the Centre’s efforts in fighting the pandemic.
He spoke about the impact of Covid-19 around the world. “Countries like the US could not manage to control the pandemic in cities like New York. We cannot imagine such a situation in India,” KCR said.