PM missed to address many issues related to lockdown: CPI (M)

Expressing unhappiness over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation concerning the country's fight against coronavirus, the CPI (M) has said that he should have spelt out as to how the government would help people during the extended period of lockdown.

New Delhi: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Tuesday expressed dissatisfaction over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation alleging that many issues related to people's lives during the extended period of lockdown were not addressed by him.

The Prime Minister formally announced the extension of the 21-day long lockdown, which was to end midnight, till 3rd of May to deal with Covid-19 pandemic that has been spreading in the country at an increasing speed.

"The Prime Minister listed seven tasks that the people should do during the extended lockdown. However, he did not spell out what the government will do," a CPI(M) Polit bureau statement issued here said.

However, the Prime Minister said that some relief will be announced only after reviewing the situation on April 20.

The CPI(M) said that it was wrong as people across the country were already expecting that the extension of lockdown would come with some relaxations allowing some economic activities in the country.

"Some degree of normalcy should be restored while effectively combating the spread of the virus and for that, large scale testing is required," Sitaram Yechury, Secretary-General, CPI(M), said.

"We pointed out last time also that India has probably the lowest rate of testing among all the countries in the world and unfortunately that situation has not been improved at all," he said, recommending more tests.

"The government should recognize the clusters where the number of cases is increasing and isolate or lockdown those clusters with testing at war footed manner but we did not hear anything from the Prime Minister on this. We hope that guidelines, which will be issued tomorrow, will address all these issues" he added.

He also demanded extra funding for states and transparency in disbursement of the donation being collected under PM Cared Fund.