Reviewing the Congress’s efforts to provide relief to people hit by the three-week COVID-19 lockdown , party president Sonia Gandhi on Friday said she hoped that the Union government would come out with a plan to deal with the situation arising out of the prevailing lockdown.
Addressing Pradesh Congress Commitee (PCC) chiefs from across the country via videoconferencing, Ms. Gandhi said the party was ready to play its role in the country’s fight against the coronavirus.
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“Due to the lockdown, the poor labourers left for their villages, and our workers got down to help them. Even today, all over the country, Congress workers from every district are engaged in this work,” she said in her initial remarks.
The Congress chief also mentioned that she and Rahul Gandhi have written to the government and made suggestions over the battle against the pandemic.
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“We hope that the government comes out with a plan to meet this challenge. The poor, farmers and labourers are suffering the most,” the Congress chief said.
“The lockdown is going to put a lot of burden on our economy. The economy was already in crisis, and now it seems that difficulties will increase. We have to be ready for it,” she added.
Apart from taking stock of the relief work carried out by party workers, she also asked for suggestions.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, in an open letter, also hailed accredited social health activists, auxiliary nurse and midwives and Anganwadi workers for their role in the fight against the COVID pandemic and said “they are true patriots” who toil to keep communities safe in the midst of this grave crisis.”
H-1B visas
In another development, the Congress urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impress upon the United States not to terminate the H1B visas of Indians living in the country.
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“The sword of H-1B visa job termination looms large on the heads of an estimated 75,000 Indians, with the United States giving them only a 60-day period to find a new job in case of a lay-off. There are 3,09,986 Indians working on H-1B visa in the U.S.A, and given the COVID-19 lockdown in the two countries, it is logistically impossible for them to come back to India,” Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said
Mr. Surjewala alleged that after compromising on ‘India First’ policy in allowing the export of hydroxycholoquine drug, the Modi government was again failing to secure the safety and livelihood of Indians in the U.S.
