Palanivel Thiagarajan, finance minister of Tamil Nadu and Madurai (Central) MLA, Thursday said Madurai district would now include data from crematoriums in its daily Covid-19 report, also counting deaths of people who had come from outside. Emphasising the importance of transparent reporting of death data, Thiagarajan said this would “inform overall COVID-19 spread analysis & control”. Addressing reporters on Thursday after constituting a task force to review the Covid situation and take necessary steps to control the spread of the pandemic, Thiagarajan said: “Our Chief Minister is very clear from the first day [he took oath as the Chief Minister]. He said we must include public, give them the space to voice their opinion in our decisions. As [late US President] Abraham Lincoln said, democracy is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. You would have seen in Chennai, how all representatives of parties [elected to the assembly] were invited and based on their suggestions, some decisions were taken. Today, the CM invited healthcare professionals and asked for their advice. Following that, we have formed a task force.” Thiagarajan, also known as PTR, said experts from different fields are part of the group, who will provide their inputs to attain three goals - how to manage isolation/segregation without much damage to the economy and livelihood of the public; how to improve medical management; and how to improve the ongoing initiatives taken by the government to battle the pandemic. He also said the government is making efforts to ensure parity in prices of essential items like vegetables. "Transparency in everything is important. We understand that based on supply and demand, there will be fluctuation in price of vegetables, fruits, etc. But they [sellers] need to discuss with officials and explain their stand. We don’t want the price to differ from one person or house to another. We are making sure there should be no information disparity. We are hopeful that we can better the already existing initiatives. We want to increase the supply of necessary items to the public as much as possible to reduce their movement," he added.
