DMK president and Opposition leader M.K. Stalin on Wednesday said the ₹3,280-crore relief package announced by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for the lockdown-hit poor was inadequate. He urged the State government to seek additional funds from the Centre to mitigate the crisis.
In a statement, he suggested a slew of measures, including deferment of loan repayments and allocation of funds to local bodies to help them tackle the situation.
Mr. Stalin also called upon his party’s MPs and MLAs to make adequate allocations from the Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme and the MLA Local Area Development Fund for the procurement of masks, thermal scanners and other safety gear, in consultation with the respective District Collectors.
The Centre and the State governments should advise banks to defer the EMI payments of autorickshaw, Ola and Uber drivers by three months, he said. Similarly, no attempt should be made to recover the loans extended by banks to small and medium industries and the agricultural sector, Mr. Stalin said. He said repayment of loans provided by Tidco should be deferred and the interest and penalties should be waived for three months.
Mr. Stalin also said each local body should be allotted ₹3 lakh, as they play a key role in tackling COVID-19. He also called for financial assistance of ₹50,000 to all unorganised workers and family cardholders, which should be directly credited to their bank accounts.
He urged the Chief Minister to announce a special wage of ₹50,000 for doctors, nurses, paramedics, sanitary workers and police personnel, who were performing their duties in a difficult situation.
“The government should not think its duties are over once the lockdown is announced. It should take further measures without any delay,” the DMK leader said.
