Centre should announce package for States, poor people: Sachin Pilot

Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot on Wednesday urged the Central government to announce more financial packages for the state governments and the poor in view of the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.

"Financial aid provided by the Central government is almost non-existent when compared to other countries. The Centre should announce a package for the state governments and the needy. If they do not do it now, when will they," he asked while speaking to .

He was also of the view that the Indian government has provided very little financial aid as compared to other countries to combat the menace of coronavirus.

According to the Central government, around 39 crore people have received financial assistance of Rs 34,800 crore amid the COVID-19 lockdown under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package (PMGKP) as on May 5.

These people received the assistance, which was announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on March 26 to protect them from the impact of the lockdown due to COVID 19, via digital payment infrastructure.

( With inputs from ANI )