Unified effort needed to combat COVID-19 pandemic: CPI
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, March 19 2020:
The National Secretariat of the Communist Party of India, in a statement, has appealed to all the people to come together to fight COVID-19 pandemic .
Appreciating the steps taken up by the Union and the State Governments and administrations to contain the spread of the virus in the country, the party appealed to all the States to coordinate their efforts so that the number of loss can be brought down.
It noted that many educational institutes have been closed while students are advised to vacate hostels as well, he noted.
However, several students are having problems to vacate their hostel on a short notice, which must be addressed by the administration, he added.
Saying that daily wage earners and bread earners like workers, vendors, auto rickshaw/ taxi drivers etc are worst affected by the crisis, it underlined the need for the Government to provide some relief through economic incentive and rations as well.
The party also urged the authorities concerned to provide masks and santisers to the poor and needy people for free.
It further appealed to all sections of the society to co-operate with the administration over the preventive measures undertaken and to abide by the instructions of WHO to prevent the spread of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Manipur State Council, CPI, in a separate statement issued yesterday, strongly condemned the price hike of excise duty on petrol and diesel by the Modi Government amidst the unrest and apprehension caused by the deadly COVID-19, which has affected trade and commerce across the globe among other sectors.
A press release issued by secretary of MSC-CPI Sotinkumar said that the excise duty hike will lead to further increase in the price of essential commodities, and cause immense grievances to the farmers as well.
It also decried the increase in GST on smartphones by the Modi Government.