Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Monday said the coronavirus pandemic was not yet over and urged all to remain careful and vigilant to curb the spread of this deadly viral disease.

Addressing a public meeting from Shimla through video conferencing after laying the foundation of development works in Una district, Thakur said though there had been a steep spike in the number of Covid cases in the state but still the situation was under control.He urged the people to maintain social distancing and wear face masks while going out from their houses.

“The state government has decided that in indoor marriages and other social events the number is restricted to one hundred. It has also decided that COVID tests would be mandatory for the catering staff engaged in marriages and other social events,” he said, adding the decision had been taken to check the spread of the virus.

Thakur further stated that the Coronavirus had forced everyone to re-think and replan their developmental priorities while there were adverse effects on the economy.

He instructed that all the officers need to re-plan their priorities and also re-fix the goals for time bound completion of various developmental projects in the area.

“Around Rs 12,000 crore unspent money is lying with various departments which needs to be identified and utilised for undertaking developmental works. The officers must ensure effective utilisation of this money to ensure that pace of development does not suffer due to want of funds,” he said.

The Chief Minister said Himachal has been ranked as the first state in the country in effective implementation of the Jal Jeevan Mission and Rs 360 crore would be spent under the Mission during the current financial year.

Further, the dedication of the Atal Tunnel by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi shows the love and affection he shared with the people of the state and it was the first tour of the Prime Minister after unlock in wake of the Covid19 pandemic, he added.

Thakur said the present state government was completing three years in office on 27th December, this year and an event would be held at Shimla to mark this event keeping in view the Corona pandemic.He directed officials to make efforts to virtually reach out to maximum people of the state.He congratulated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP national chief J P Nadda for landslide victory of NDA in Bihar and Nitish Kumar being sworn in as Chief Minister for the fourth time in a row.

He added that the credit for the victory goes to the development oriented policies of the Union government.