New Delhi: With migrant workers starting to crowd railway stations and bus terminals amid a rising number of COVID-19 cases across the country, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman reached out to industry associations to reassure them that the government has no plan to impose another such lockdown.
Sitharaman on Monday (April 19) spoke to various business and Chamber leaders and took their inputs on industry and association-related matters.
Taking to Twitter, Sitharaman said that she informed the leaders that the Central government is responding to COVID-19 management at various levels and is working together with states for lives and livelihoods.
The Finance Minister tweeted, "Spoke on telephone with each of the following business/Chamber leaders. Took their inputs on industry/Association related matters. Informed them that GoI at various levels from @PMOIndia is responding to #Covid management. Working together with states for lives and livelihoods."
Spoke on telephone with each of the following business/Chamber leaders. Took their inputs on industry/Association related matters. Informed them that GoI at various levels from @PMOIndia is responding to #Covid management. Working together with states for lives and livelihoods.
— Nirmala Sitharaman (@nsitharaman) April 19, 2021
The leaders who spoke to the Finance Minister included Kotak Mahindra Bank CEO Uday Kotak, Uday Shankar from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), Deb Mukherjee from Bengal Chamber of Commerce, T R Parasuraman from Bangalore Chamber of Commerce and Pawan Munjal from Hero MotoCorp.
Notably, the second wave of COVID-19 has taken the country's total caseload to over 1.50 crore, according to the figures from the Union Health Ministry showed on Monday morning. The country recorded 2.73 lakh new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, witnessing its worst phase of COVID-19, with close to 20 lakh active cases.
There were 2,73,810 new infections, 1,619 fatalities and 1,44,178 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the official data reportedly said.
