Impact of West Asia war
NEW DELHI, Apr 1:
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday called for an ‘all-out effort’ to safeguard the Indian citizens from the impact of the war in West Asia and stressed a timely and authentic public information system to ward off any misinformation or rumour-mongering.
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At a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by him, the prime minister assessed the availability of critical needs for the common people and said all efforts must be made to safeguard the citizens from the impact of this conflict.
The meeting was held to review measures taken by ministries and departments in view of the West Asia conflict, and discuss further initiatives in that context, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.
This was the second special CCS meeting on this issue. The first was held on March 22.
Modi directed all concerned departments to take all possible measures to ameliorate the problems of citizens and sectors affected by the ongoing global situation, the PMO statement said.
At the meeting, the prime minister took stock of fertilisers and steps being taken to ensure their availability in the Kharif and Rabi seasons.
He emphasised a smooth flow of authentic information to the public to prevent misinformation and rumour-mongering.
“Chaired a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS). Reviewed the steps being taken by various Ministries and Departments in the wake of the ongoing West Asia conflict and also discussed the next set of initiatives to be taken,” Modi said in a post on X.
Energy, agriculture, fertilisers, aviation, shipping and logistics were some of the sectors discussed in the meeting, he said.
Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan briefed those present about action taken to ensure the supply of petroleum products, particularly LNG/LPG, and power.
Sources are being diversified for the procurement of LPG with new inflows from different countries.
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) is also being sourced from different countries.
LPG prices for domestic consumers have remained the same, and anti-diversion enforcement to curb its hoarding and black marketing is being conducted regularly, the cabinet secretary said.
Union ministers Amit Shah (Home), S Jaishankar (External Affairs), Nirmala Sitharaman (Finance), Piyush Goyal (Commerce), Shivraj Singh Chouhan (Agriculture), J P Nadda (Health) and Ashwini Vaishnaw (Railways) were among those present at the meeting.
Union ministers Manohar Lal Khattar (Power), Pralhad Joshi (Food and Consumer Affairs), Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu (Civil Aviation), and Hardeep Singh Puri (Petroleum) also attended it.
National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and the prime minister’s two principal secretaries, P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, were in attendance.
The attendees were informed that initiatives have been taken to expand piped natural gas connections.
Measures like exempting the gas-based power plants with a capacity of 7-8 GW from the gas pooling mechanism and increasing rake for positioning more coal at thermal power stations, have also been taken to ensure availability of power during the peak summer months.
Interventions proposed to be taken for emerging challenges in such sectors as agriculture, civil aviation, shipping and logistics were also discussed.
Efforts, like maintaining urea production to meet requirements, coordinating with overseas supplies for DAP/NPKS suppliers, are being taken to ensure fertiliser supply, they were told.
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