Thiruvananthapuram, May 27: Chief Minister, Shri Pinarayi Vijayan today organised an all-party meeting to apprise the leaders of all the major political parties in Kerala about the Government’s Covid preventive measures and the steps being taken the Government to manage the pandemic.

Briefing the media, the Chief Minister said, “As our preventive measures move into the next phase, I had an online meeting with the leaders of all political parties in the State. The leaders at the all-party meeting have expressed their satisfaction on the Government’s Covid mitigation efforts so far. They have also offered their support for the measures being taken by the government.

The leaders were of the opinion that the people, the government and the local self-government bodies should come together in the present situation in fighting the pandemic. The leaders have put forth a lot of valuable suggestions and the government will examine them seriously. Everyone agreed that we have to be more careful and cautious as more and more of our people from other countries and states are coming back to Kerala.”

The meeting stressed on the importance of home quarantine and how those in quarantine are expected to strictly follow the quarantine instructions. The public, neighbours and the police will have to be vigilant to check if they are violating the quarantine. “The State is willing to receive anyone who comes back but if they come without prior information and don’t follow the quarantine properly, our efforts to contain the spread of the virus will be negated”, the CM added.

The CM also commented that there seems to be some misunderstanding on the Pravasies bearing the expenses for the institutional quarantine. The paid quarantine facility is only for those who can afford it. The poor will not face any hardship. The Government Order in this regard would have all the details. This issue was also raised by the various party representatives during the all-party meeting.

The Chief Minister also announced that Kerala has no objection in chartered flights coming to the State from other countries as long as prior intimation is given. Any reports, on the contrary, are totally baseless. If the information is given in advance, we will make the necessary arrangement here”, he added.

May 31 Sunday to be observed as full cleanup day

In an effort to prevent the rainy season diseases with the onset of monsoon, the Chief Minister today announced that next Sunday (May 31) will be a cleanup day across the state. The decision to observe this cleaning day was taken up based on the suggestions in the all-party meeting.

“Sundays are now a complete lockdown day in the state but the next Sunday, everyone should clean their house and their surrounding area. The public places will be cleaned by the LSG bodies. This would avoid all possible conditions for the spread of disease. I request the support and cooperation of all parties and organizations in this cleaning activity. If people can come together, we can overcome this situation. The government has called up each party to make a special effort to educate the public to comply with the stipulations for preventing the spread of disease. The government is happy that everyone has accepted it”, said the CM.

Besides the leader of the opposition, Shri Ramesh Chennithala, about 15 leaders of different political parties attended the video conference meeting.