In a sudden development in the battle against the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19) in the state, the Tamil Nadu government has banned the voluntary and Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from distributing the relief materials, cooked food, and rations to the needy and affected people.

The fresh restriction on blocking the distribution from the organizations directly to the people has come into effect on Sunday. The government has instructed the organizations which are willing are provide relief materials to go through the government machinery. According to the reports, the state government has prohibited direct distribution to the people with the view of refraining unnecessary gatherings in public places.

As the state has been brought under curfew to curb the spread of Coronavirus, the reports stated that such gatherings would amount to the spread of the pandemic among the public and the government has said that the violation of this restriction would be termed as the violation of the prohibitory orders of the curfew under section 144. The statewide lockdown and curfew have been put in place on March 24th and will play its role till April 14th and the government has been considering to extend the lockdown period as the state has been reporting more cases affected by the virus each day.

After the state government issued the directive to ban the independent organizations from distributing the relief materials, it has caught up with criticism from the opposition parties. Actor turned politician and chief of Makkal Needhi Maiam Kamal Hassan took to Twitter and accused the government on imposed the ban. He stated that "Neighbouring states in the south are seeking the help of NGO’s, youth & retired doctors. Unfortunate, my TN Government has passed an order impeding help from the willing and earnest. Oh! Respected? Ministers. No time for commission or omission. Let trained civil service personnel do their job. Stay safe. No time for brownie points".

#Lockdown காலத்தில் துயருறும் எளியவர்களின் பசி நீக்க, தமிழ் மக்களின் கரங்கள் நீளும்போது, அதைத் தடுக்க உத்தரவிட எவராலும் இயலாது; தானும் செய்யாது அடுத்தவர்களையும் தடுப்பது வஞ்சகம்!

இது ஜனநாயக நாடு; உதவி செய்யக் கூடாது என்பது சர்வாதிகாரத்தனம்!

'கருணையில்லா ஆட்சி கடிந்தொழிக!' pic.twitter.com/cVtaHrgvdl

— M.K.Stalin (@mkstalin) April 12, 2020

Similarly, DMK President and State Opposition Leader MK Stalin said "Its democratic country and passing such prohibition to ban the aid is equal to dictatorship. Its a betrayal by this government to prevent others from helping the people. No one can stop the Tamil Nadu people from extending their hands to serve the affected people". By citing that the government can order to restrict the unnecessary gatherings, he asked the government on how it can stop the people from helping the affected ones.

Tamil Nadu had witnessed the sharpest rise in the number of affected cases due to the virus in its territory on Sunday. It has reported 106 cases positive for the virus, which is one of the highest single-day rises in the state. As of Sunday, the state has 1,075 positive cases of which 1,014 are active patients while fifty people have been recovered and discharged and eleven have succumbed to the virus. The positive cases include both Indian and foreign nationals.