Kerala held a special online Cabinet meeting through video conferencing, on Monday for the first time. The meeting was chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
While Vijayan participated from his official residence, the other Cabinet ministers took part in the meeting from their offices or residences.
Typically, the weekly Cabinet meet takes place on Wednesday and is held at the State Secretariat in the block housing the Chief Minister's office. Now however, it remains to be seen, if the weekly Cabinet meeting on Wednesday will also shift online.
The Cabinet meeting held on Monday took the decision to pass an Ordinance to effect the passing of the Finance Bill, as the special one-day sitting of the Kerala Legislative Assembly scheduled for the same day, was suspended last week.
Though earlier, it was decided by the state government that a special one-day Assembly session would be held to pass the Finance Bill on July 27, it was suspended citing the prevailing COVID-19 situation.
But the Opposition had slammed the government, criticising that the Assembly session was suspended due to the controversies involving the government. Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and other senior leaders of the Congress had stated CM Pinarayi suspended the proposed Assembly session out of fear of answering questions raised by the Opposition regarding the involvement of his former Principal Secretary M Sivasankar with the accused in the controversial gold smuggling case.
Meanwhile, in the Cabinet meeting held online, it was decided that the state will not undergo a total lockdown. An all-party meeting, which was held last week, had reached a similar conclusion. The Cabinet has also decided that instead of a complete lockdown, strict restrictions will be enforced across the state.
The Cabinet also expressed its solidarity with the people of Assam, where major flooding has struck. It was decided that Rs 2 crore would be donated to the Assam government.
(With TNM inputs)