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Covid India: PM Narendra Modi meets with Chief Ministers of states hit hardest by cases

Mumbai - Prime Minister urges CMs to work together and coordinate efforts to tackle crisis.

With many Indian states engaged in a vicious battle over the supply of oxygen to hospitals in their cities, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday urged states to work together and coordinate the efforts to tackle the crisis.

Addressing a high-level meeting on the Covid crisis with chief ministers of 11 states and union territories with the maximum number of cases, Modi said the government was continuously trying to increase oxygen supply. He urged all departments and ministries to work together to tackle the crisis.

No oxygen tanker should be stopped, irrespective of which state it was meant for. States should set up high-level coordination committees to ensure that oxygen reaches different hospitals after the central government allots them. States should also check hoarding and black marketing of oxygen medicines, Modi urged the chief ministers.

Pointing out that the virus was affecting several states as well as tier-II and tier-III cities simultaneously, Modi called on the chief ministers to work together to fight the pandemic with collective power.

India’s success during the first wave of the pandemic was “our united efforts and united strategy,” he said and reiterated that the current challenge should be tackled in the same way.

According to Modi, India was running the world’s largest vaccination programme and so far more than 150 million vaccine doses have been provided free of cost to the states by the central government.

The vaccination programme should not slow down and “we need to work in mission mode,” he urged the chief ministers.

People must also be discouraged from indulging in panic buying, he said. With several states imposing lockdowns, there are reports of panic buying in several cities.