Congress Kerala unit calls for Covid Disaster Relief Commission

Thiruvananthapuram, July 13 The Congress led UDF opposition in Kerala on Tuesday demanded the immediate setting up of a Covid Disaster Relief Commission.

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said after the April 6 election when Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan retained power, things have come to a standstill.

"Since the elections are over, Vijayan has turned complacent and has the attitude, let anything happen. On account of the pandemic, there is all round suffering and the need of the hour is to set up a Covid Disaster Relief Commission, which will have to do a comprehensive study and suggest measures to help the society at large," said Satheesan.

The state presently has more than one lakh active cases and the daily number of cases is more than 20 per cent in the country. The test positivity rate (TPR) continues to hover around 10 per cent, which also is a high in the country.

"There appears to be all round dissatisfaction with the manner in which Covid is being managed and the present lockdown protocols seem to defy logic, nor are they effective. During the 2020 lockdown, there were efforts to ensure that people got a moratorium on their loans, but this time so far no such attempt has been made. Private moneylenders are making hay while traders showed their ire at Kozhikode by protesting. While all this is happening, the Vijayan government continues to be blissfully unaware of the real situation," added Satheesan.

On Tuesday, the state government came out with fresh relaxations in the lockdown norms and allowed the opening of banks on all days from Monday to Friday. Till now these banks and financial institutions opened only on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

Likewise it was decided to allow shops to open in local bodies that came under the A, B, C category till 8 p.m., while norms will be strict in category D areas which have a TPR above 15 per cent.

The traders body headed by T. Nasirudhin on Tuesday said that they will wait till Thursday to see if the government will come out with further relaxations as their members are in deep trouble and have to open their shops. If there is no favourable response, then they will have to look for other options.