OUR CORRESPONDENT
TEZPUR: State Water Resources Minister and Guardian Minister for Sonitpur district, Pijush Hazarika on Monday held a review meeting at the conference hall of the Deputy Commissioner's office here and reviewed the management of COVID-19 situation in Sonitpur district and facilities available at TMCH and other COVID Care Centres set up in the district.
Present in today's meeting were MP, Tezpur HPC, Pallab Lochan Das, MLA of Sootea, Padma Hazarika, MLA of Borsola, Ganesh Limboo, MLA of Tezpur, Prithiraj Rabha, MLA of Rangapara, Krishna Kamal Tanti, Deputy Commissioner Bhupesh Chandra Das, Superintendent of Police, Dr Dhananjay P Ghanawat and other officials.
The Deputy Commissioner welcomed all present to the first review meeting by the guardian minister for Sonitpur district. Joint Director Health Services gave an overview of the COVID-19 management in the district. Minister Pijush Hazarika took stock of the status of the COVID Care Centres, cases sent to home isolation and directed all officials to strictly follow the home isolation guidelines so that such patients could not spread the disease to other people. He also directed the district administration to monitor all such cases and asked to arrange transportation facility of COVID-19 positive patients from the testing centres to their houses. He also asked the health officials to ensure adequate supply and stock of medicines and other essential items required in the fight to contain COVID-19.
He also directed the administration to ensure that all BPL families inside containment zones were provided food items worth Rs. 2,000 and at the same time ensure that food items distributed were of good quality. He also asked the MLAs and ZP members present to ensure the benefits were reaching the poor and needy families in their respective areas in a transparent and effective manner. He also directed the officials to ensure good quality of food in all CCCs in the district, especially in those CCCs set up in tea garden areas.
The minister directed the SP to deploy adequate security in containment zones to monitor unauthorized movement of people to and from the containment zones. SP Dr Ghanawat informed that round-the-clock security has been deployed in eight-hour shifts at all such containment zones in the district. He moreover, informed that as part of a novel initiative, RAT testing of all COVID lockdown violators was being carried out in police nakas at various locations.
Minister Pijush Hazarika also stressed the need to carry out awareness at the grassroots level and directed the Deputy Commissioner to chalk out a plan by involving all ZP members, AP members and concerned PRI representatives on how the funds under the 15th Finance Commission could be best utilized for COVID-19 management.
The minister moreover, asked all officials to brace for the upcoming flood season and asked the Water Resources department officials to immediately execute temporary protection work of most vulnerable points along embankments in the district. He also briefly reviewed the status of works of schemes under PWD (Roads), Agriculture, Panchayat and Rural Development, among others and said that he would take monthly reviews of all such development schemes in the district.
Issues related to containment of man-elephant conflict, enforcement, law and order were also taken up during the course of the meeting. He moreover, directed the Deputy Director, F&CS to immediately issues 3200 NFSA cards to eligible beneficiaries of the district. The minister also appealed to all officials present to work diligently in the coming days as part of the work reforms taken up by Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma.