PM Narendra Modi on Friday chaired a virtual meeting with chief ministers and lieutenant governors of various states and Union Territories (UT) across the country to review India's preparedness as the war between Iran and US-Israel forces turns a month old.
Emphasising the need for vigilance, preparedness, and coordinated action to address the challenges at every stage of the West Asia crisis, PM Modi also took in state-wise inputs from those present.
The CMs of poll-bound states were not present, in line with the Model Code of Conduct, which is currently in force here.
This comes as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on Friday declared that it had "closed" the Hormuz Strait to ships linked to the US and its allies, and added that it had "turned back" three Chinese-linked vessels on Thursday and Friday.
Despite carrying Chinese flags, the two vessels were forced to turn back after attempting to pass through the strait at 3:50 AM GMT (9:20 AM IST) on Friday, as per data from the maritime tracker Kpler, which noted that “safe passage could not be guaranteed”.
China is one of the few countries—including India—whose vessels had been granted safe passage through the Hormuz Strait.
Keeping the evolving situation in mind, he reiterated that an Inter-Ministerial Group—that has been operational since March 3—was effectively engaged in helping maintain economic and trade stability, ensuring energy security, and insulating supply chains from the crisis as much as possible.
He also noted the country's unified response to global disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic, which he called 'Team India', pointing out that the Gulf crisis was somewhat similar, and called for a similar Centre-state unified approach to the developments over the coming days.
The LPG crisis also became a major talking point at the virtual meeting, with excise duty to be reduced on fuels, and the increase in commercial LPG allocation from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of pre-crisis levels.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday also urged citizens not to be misled by "a deliberately mischievous, coordinated campaign of misinformation that is being carried out to spread unjustified panic".