As the nation waits to hear the Prime Minister's next moves in his address to the nation on Tuesday morning, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, stressing the need to strike a "right balance" between steps to contain COVID-19 and remedies to protect economy from unprecedented consequences.
Jagan reiterated the need for a selective lockdown in view of the state's dependence on revenues from agriculture and aquaculture sectors.
"The state ranks first amongst all the states in the production of chilli, banana, coconut, tomato, brinjal, papaya, palm oil, tobacco, fish, prawn and poultry; second in paddy, groundnut, maize, mango and meat production; and third in milk production in addition to being the largest producer of fruits,” Jagan wrote.
Apart from export markets such as the US and Europe, with the lockdown restricting access for the state's aqua products to domestic markets like West Bengal, Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, Jagan pointed out that Andhra had suffered immensely.
He wrote that opening of national highways and railways and allowing movement of goods will give a fillip to the industrial economy as lack of availability of transport has impacted the supply of inputs and severely hampered the supply of finished goods like cement, steel etc., causing major hindrance to industries.
Jagan suggested that areas should be classified into red, orange and green zones based on the spread of the pandemic and restrictions imposed accordingly. "The limits on each zone should be as granular as possible, such as by ward, colony, radius, etc., so that the approach will ensure the risks are adequately mitigated and at the same time the adverse impact on the country's economy is minimized," he noted.
"This approach would ensure that the risks are adequately mitigated and at the same time, the adverse impact on the country's economy is minimized," he wrote in the letter.
In line with his stand during the Prime Minister's recent interaction with the Chief Ministers of the country, Jagan reiterated his support to Modi's decisions in the matter.
The 21-day nationwide lockdown, which was called by the Prime Minister from March 24 midnight, comes to an end on Tuesday. In his address to the nation on Tuesday morning, the Prime Minister is expected to spell out the next course of action to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in the country.
With IANS and PTI inputs