The Nagaland government has released Rs 75 lakh to all deputy commissioners in the state lakh from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Chief minister Neiphiu Rio announced this during a video conference with the deputy commissioners, superintendents of police and chief medical officers held to review the status and preparedness of districts to combat the virus.
Rio also sanctioned Rs 1 lakh each for Naga Students Union Punjab and Rajasthan.
He said an additional Rs 10 lakh ex-gratia will be paid to any health worker, currently in the line of duty, if he or she gets afflicted by Covid-19 besides Rs 50 lakh similar ex-gratia announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana for them.
Rio, during the video conferencing, said though Nagaland had no confirmed Covid-19 case till date, the state has to prepare for any eventuality.
He specifically inquired about the public response to the enforcement of lockdown, preparedness for Covid-19-related matters, Covid-19 hospitals and status of receiving medical equipment from the health and family welfare department and availability of essential commodities in the districts.
The enforcement of lockdown in the districts had been largely peaceful and successful, as per the feedback received during the video conference.
Separate places had been identified for quarantine purposes and hospitals had been kept ready in the event of any detection.
Rio was also told that medical equipment sent by the health and family welfare department had already been received by the districts, except for one or two districts that were yet to receive ventilators.
The deputy commissioners said availability of essential commodities in the districts continued to remain normal.
Rio stressed on home delivery, especially LPG, by the agency itself in order to avoid crowding and maintaining social distancing at this crucial juncture.
He also asked the law enforcing authorities to allow movement of people in the villages, keeping in mind the importance of sowing season for the cultivators.
However, people coming from outside to the villages should be stopped and kept for quarantine, he added.
He also urged the authorities concerned to support and protect the migrant workers, if any, by giving them shelter and other essential commodities.
He also suggested that districts like Kohima and Dimapur should have colony markets for shopping in order to avoid crowding and maintaining social distancing.
Rio thanked the tribal Hohos, NGOs and other civil society organisations for actively supporting and helping the government in all possible ways.
Chief secretary Temjen Toy asked all the deputy commissioners to work out the status of the actual number of migrants and daily wage earners and see how many of them have been availing shelter and food.