Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday said the central government has provided all possible assistance to the state government to fight COVID-19 pandemic.

Inaugurating and laying foundation stones of developmental projects worth Rs 73.10 crore in Gagret Assembly segment of Una district through video conferencing from Shimla, the Chief Minister said the central government has provided 1.60 lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, over three lakh N95 masks and 500 ventilators to the state to tackle the Coronavirus.

Thakur said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has successfully led the nation to fight this pandemic. He said that the whole nation also stood rock solid behind the Prime Minister in this testing time. He said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always been considerate towards developmental needs of the state.

He also thanked the Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur for effectively taking up the matters pertaining to the state at the Centre level. The Chief Minister said that the Covid19 has taken the whole world by surprise and has adversely affected the world economy.

He said that the state government is ensuring that the pace of development does not get affected due to this virus and thus have started inauguration and laying foundation stones of developmental projects in different parts of the state.

The Chief Minister directed the officers to ensure time bound completion of the projects being executed in the area as this would not only provide better facilities to the people of the area, but also check price escalation. He said that all the projects, foundation stones of which were laid by him today would be completed within the stipulated time period.

He assured the people of the area that the pace of development would go uninterrupted and would further be accelerated in times to come.

Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur, while addressing the people virtually from New Delhi, said that the double engine governments of the Centre and State have ensured all round and fast development of the state.

He said that efforts would be made to strengthen the railway network in the state. He said that people of the Gagret also played a crucial role in helping the people of the area during the lockdown due to Covid19 pandemic. Anurag Thakur said that Rs 15,000 crore had been allocated by the central government separately to fight this pandemic in the country and expressed hope that the country would soon come out from this crisis.