Call on extending lockdown post PM's address: Yediyurappa

Bengaluru: Karnataka Chief Minister B.S.Yediyurappa on Wednesday said that the decision on whether to enforce complete or partial lockdown in the state will be taken only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation in the evening.

After garlanding Mysuru state's first Chief Minister, K.C. Reddy's statue on his 119th birth anniversary here, Yediyurappa told the media that it was not proper of him to take any decision as of now when Modi is scheduled to speak in the evening.

"Let us listen to what he says and then we can decide or if he takes any decision we will have to implement it," the CM said.

Speculation is rife that Karnataka might consider extending its lockdown like shutdown beyond May 12, after Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) and Supreme Court had favoured extending countrywide lockdown to arrest the virus transmission.

In Karnataka, two-week shutdown is already in force and it prohibits free movement of people and allows essential shops to function till noon.

On Monday, CII president Uday Kotak urged the industry captains to curtail all the non-essential economic activity requiring physical presence of employees at the workplace, for the next two week.

"This is necessary to break the chain of transmission. Industry should review operations and minimise the use of in person manpower, limiting it to only critical operations or activities required by law.

All responsible corporates should strive to protect their employees and ensure that their employee balance sheet remains healthy," he said in his appeal to industry captains while terming the second Covid wave as 'massive tsunami of Covid infections' that has hit India, causing much suffering.

Earlier this week, even the Apex court had asked both the central and state governments to consider imposing a ban on mass gatherings and super-spreader events, as well as enforcing a lockdown to curb the spread of the Covid.