Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Sunday suggested that a “modified lockdown” could be enforced beyond April 14, when the present spell of nationwide lockdown comes to an end, to enable the States to utilise their internal resources for bringing the economy back on track.
“My thinking is that a modified lockdown should come into force. To what extent it can happen, depends on the Central government,” Mr. Gehlot said at an interaction with journalists through video conferencing at his residence here.
Mr. Gehlot said the States could open up some sectors and allow movement of vehicles to restart limited services and agricultural value chain operations, but added that the inter-State transport would be possible only with the Centre's cooperation.
He affirmed that the States had weakened under the impact of lockdown.
“It is easy to announce a lockdown, which stops everything, but it is a bigger challenge to end the lockdown and bring the life back on rails,” Mr. Gehlot remarked while pointing out that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had hinted at extending the lockdown during his meeting with Chief Ministers on Saturday.
The Rajasthan government had announced the lockdown on March 21, three days before the nationwide lockdown was brought into force to contain the spread of COVID-19. Two task forces appointed by Mr. Gehlot on April 4 are examining the strategies for a phased withdrawal of the lockdown and for bringing the economy back to normal.
State toll reaches 9
Meanwhile, A 13-year-old girl died of COVID-19 infection in Jaipur on Sunday, taking Rajasthan's toll to nine. Health Department says she had complaints of intestine perforation and septicaemia.
The number of positive cases in the State increased to 804 with the detection of 104 new cases.
