Coronavirus: India Readies To Light Candles, Diyas Tonight To Display Collective Resolve Against Covid-19

Amid apprehensions of power grid failure, POSOCO CMD KVS Baba on Saturday assured that there will not be any problem during the blackout tomorrow, saying all the states have drawn plans to tackle the situation.

Kozhikode: A man arranges earthen lamps at his shop during a nationwide lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, in Kozhikode, Saturday, April 4, 2020. PM Modi urged people to switch off lights of their homes at 9 pm for nine minutes on April 5 and light up lamps, candles, mobile flashlights to display the nation's collective spirit to defeat coronavirus. (PTI Photo) (PTI04-04-2020_000051B)

New Delhi: India readies to join Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his call for the display of collective determination to battle the Coronavirus outbreak in the country by lighting up diyas, candles or torchlights in their balconies or at their doors for nine minutes at 9pm tonight. The Prime Minister has asked people to keep the lights of the houses switched off during the activity. People in various cities came out in their balconies on Saturday night and lit the candles and diyas, as a rehearsal for the main activity on Sunday. Meanwhile, Power System Operation Corporation Limited (POSOCO), refuted the apprehension of a possible grid failure due to power overload during the exercise. Amid apprehensions of power grid failure, POSOCO CMD KVS Baba on Saturday assured that there will not be any problem during the blackout tomorrow, saying all the states have drawn plans to tackle the situation. On Saturday, PM posted a video of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee reciting his poem "aao milkar diya jalayen"

आओ दीया जलाएं। pic.twitter.com/6sc5bplbVy

— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) April 4, 2020

On Friday in a video message to the nation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to take part in the activity to beat the darkness of the pandemic. He however also asked people to not to gather anywhere in the pretext of the activity and asked them to perform it from their balconies and doors itself. Modi asked people to keep in their minds the poor, a large number of whom have been hit hard by the lockdown, and help them "walk from darkness spread by coronavirus to light and hope". Also Watch: People in various cities rehearse for corona Diwali after PM's appeal "In this darkness spread by the coronavirus pandemic, we must continuously progress towards light and hope. We must continuously strive to take those of us most affected, our poor brothers and sisters, from disappointment to hope. We must end the darkness and uncertainty emanating from the crisis, by progressing towards light and certainty," he said. On March 19, he had called for resolve and restraint to fight coronavirus. People had participated in huge numbers and rang bells, plates and applauded those providing essential services to the country in the face of the endemic.  He had also announced a 'janta curfew' on March 22, a Sunday.