Cong urges Kejriwal govt to help migrants, daily wagers in distress due to COVID-19 lockdown

The Congress on Friday said migrants and daily wagers should be giving ration and cash as incentives to instil confidence in them to stay in cities during the nationwide lockdown imposed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The party also urged the Delhi government to waive school fees and fixed power charges for shopkeepers, and pay 75 per cent salaries of teachers in aided schools, as it put forth a 10-point demand charter before the Arvind Kejriwal dispensation to help those in distress.

Senior Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken demanded from the city government that "all micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) should be given 75 per cent of their employees' salaries for three months" to help them tide over the current crisis.

He also sought Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), to be notified as regulations, for delivery agents in Delhi as a COVID-19 prevention measure.

On Thursday, a pizza delivery agent tested positive for the coronavirus in south Delhi, following which 89 families whom he delivered pizza to were put under home quarantine.

Maken said all the people who came in contact with the delivery agent have been quarantined and they should be immediately tested for the virus.

Testing should be ramped up in the national capital, he said while addressing a press conference through video-conferencing.

Maken also asked the government whether Delhi had entered the community transmission stage (stage-3) of the virus as 135 people have been kept "under investigation".

The former Delhi Congress chief said," migrants should be incentivised in Delhi and in other towns as they are the backbone of any city and demanded that they be given Rs 7,500 per month immediately to help them cope with the crisis."