State CMs ask Modi to review 35% cap on disaster management fund for Covid

During video conference Tamil and Punjab sought more funds from Centre and flagged danger to their economies as a livelihood crisis

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday that if state governments managed to institute systems that tested, diagnosed and isolated those testing positive for Covid-19 within 72 hours, India could defeat the disease and bring down the death rate below 1 per cent.

The chief ministers for their part, asked for a cap on state disaster relief funds to be lifted, considering the severity of the financial crisis they faced. 

Addressing chief ministers of 10 states that contributed 80 per cent of infections and 82 per cent of deaths, Modi said all was not lost, though India had 600,000 cases