Abid Bashir
Jammu (NVI): Jammu and Kashmir’s Lieutenant Governor (LG), Girish Chandra Murmu today briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, about the efforts of the UT Administration for management and containment of COVID-19 pandemic in Jammu and Kashmir.
An official spokesman in a statement issued here said that the Prime Minister was interacting with Chief Ministers and heads of all States/UTs through video conferencing to review the efforts of the States/UTs to combat COVID-19.
“The Lt Governor provided feedback to the PM about the COVID positive cases in J&K and steps taken by the UT Administration to maintain social distancing, ramp up healthcare infrastructure, mitigate difficulties of migrants and maintain supply of essentials,” the statement read.
The Lt Governor informed PM Modi that there are 4 deaths and 224 positive cases in the UT, with 98 per cent of the cases having travel history or contacts to the positive patients.
In J&K, 5 districts have been affected with coronavirus and 77 areas have been declared as Red Zones, he maintained.
The statement said that the LG further informed that 16 dedicated COVID Hospitals with 208 ventilators, besides 2,500 isolation beds, 25,000 non-hospital beds are available and 400 more ventilators are being procured.
Furthermore, about 5,500 people have been placed under home quarantine and 30,000 labourers are living in camps. “Around 18,000 health care professionals; 30,000 police personnel and others have been trained, who are working towards the containment of the spread of coronavirus,” the statement said.
As per the statement, the Lt Governor apprised the PM that the UT Administration has rolled out an effective mechanism and strenuous efforts are underway to reach out to the beneficiaries under various welfare schemes including 7 lakh farmers covered under PM Kissan Yojana; 8 lakh account holders under PMJDY; 12.5 lakh families getting LPG, 7 lakh families being provided with ration and other benefits.
“Dedicated call centres have been established to assist the stranded labourers and students from and outside the UT,” the statement said.
It said that during the interaction, the Prime Minister observed that next 3-4 weeks are critical to determine impact of steps taken till now to curb spread of the virus and suggested specific measures for agriculture and allied sector. “He also spoke about popularizing the ‘Aarogya Setu’ app to ensure downloads in greater numbers. Aarogya Setu app is an essential tool in our fight against COVID-19, which can subsequently act as e-pass to facilitate travel etc,” he added.
Narendra Modi categorically assured that India has adequate supplies of essential medicines and said that measures are being taken to ensure availability of protective gears and critical equipment for all front-line warriors. He underlined that the motto of the government earlier was ‘jaan hai to jahaan hai’ but now it is ‘jaan bhi, jahaan bhi’. He talked about strengthening the healthcare infrastructure and reaching out to patients through tele-medicine and also suggested that direct marketing for farm produce can be incentivised to prevent crowding in mandis. He observed that the combined efforts of the Centre and the States/UTs have definitely helped reduce the impact of COVID-19, according to the statement.
According to the statement, soon after the video conferencing, the Lt Governor chaired a meeting on COVID-19 control efforts and directed for effective implementation of restrictions in Red-Zones with aggressive & targeted testing to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
BVR Subrahmanyam, Chief Secretary; Dilbag Singh , DGP; Atal Dulloo, Financial Commissioner Health and Medical Education; Shaleen Kabra, Principal Secretary to Government, Home Department; Bipul Pathak, Principal Secretary to Lieutenant Governor attended the meeting.
The Lt Governor directed for conducting 100 per cent testing of inmates of Old Aged Homes in wake of the emerging situation and entrusted upon the officers to ensure supply of essentials in Red Zones so that people do not face any inconvenience on this part, the statement said.
As precautionary measures, the Lt Governor stressed on immediate capacity enhancement with regard to availability of quarantine and isolation beds and directed for enhancing of infrastructural requirement in J&K. He directed for readying at least 3,000 quarantine beds, and minimum 2,500 isolation beds in Kashmir and 1,500 beds in Jammu.
He further directed for sufficient supply of nebulizers and Oxygen canisters and emphasized on the maintenance of strict quarantine and isolation protocol across J&K.
Deliberations were also held on various important issues including stock positioning of protective equipment; intensifying contact tracing campaign; smooth transportation of essential commodities; effective mobilization of volunteers; conducting of health checkups on regular basis; fumigation and sanitation drives; besides other preventive measures, the statement added.
