Centre should provide financial packages to states based on number of COVID-19 cases: Sachin Pilot

To ensure a comprehensive victory over the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centre should provide financial packages to states in proportion to the number of coronavirus cases and the propensity for further spread of the infection, Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot said on Wednesday.

Pilot also said a decision on whether the lockdown should be lifted or not following the 21-day period should be taken after consultation with the states, medical experts and scientists, and if it is lifted, it should be done in stages.

The lockdown across the country was imposed from March 25 to prevent the spread of the virus.

In an interview to PTI, he said Rajasthan managed to have limited success in containing the virus as it acted fast and reached out to people not just in cities and towns, but also in villages.

Pilot, who holds the rural development and panchayati raj portfolio, said Rajasthan was one of the first states to get sodium hypochlorite sprayed in rural areas and so far, 38,000 villages out of a total of 46,000 have been disinfected.

Every single panchayat has been given Rs 50,000 to procure masks and hand sanitizers. This was done early to prevent panic buying and stopping the rural population from rushing to urban areas to procure them, he said.

The Rajasthan deputy chief minister said in order to ensure that the most vulnerable sections of society are able to sustain themselves, it is important that states are given dedicated financial packages.

For us to be able to have a comprehensive victory over the coronavirus challenge, states will have to be assisted with dedicated financial packages, he said.

I think what should be done is that every state-specific resource allocation should be done in proportion to the spread of the infection, according to the propensity for further spread and the states present capacities to meet the crisis. We can extrapolate the data scientifically. Every state government must be given a package as the economic activity has almost come to a halt, Pilot said.

State-specific financial packages depending on resources, capacity, infection rate and future roadmap is the need of the hour, he said