Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur today said the people of Himachal need to worry as the state government has succeeded in checking the spread of coronavirus in HP.
“There is no community spread in HP as all the covid-19 positive cases are those who have travel history or their primary contacts,” he said.
The CM, who was addressing a virtual rally of Bharatiya Janata Party block unit in Kutlehr in Una district through video-conferencing, said that at one stage Himachal was about to become a corona free state.
“The number however suddenly shot up due to the arrival of Himachalis stranded in different parts of the country. He said that this was unavoidable as the state government could not afford to leave its people in distress,” he said.
The state so far has reported 547 COVID-19 positive cases, 197 active cases and six deaths.
The CM said that the situation in HP is far better than the neighbouring states and all the Congress ruled states of the country. “The Congress leaders of the state are desperately trying to even politicise this pandemic. The Congress party in state is headless and directionless with every leader trying to outsmart each other,” he said.
Thakur said that he had personally interacted with the Panchayat representatives of 3226 Panchayats through video conferencing and motivated them to work with dedication to fight this virus so that it does not spread at the village level. He said that India has now become self reliant in PPE Kits, N-95 masks and Ventilators. He said that today over 300 companies were manufacturing PPE Kits and the country was even in position to export the same.
The CM said that the Union Government has increased the budget for MNREGA from Rs 60,000 crore to Rs. one lakh crore. He said that the State Government has also started Mukhya Mantri Sehari Ajeevika Yojna to provide 120 days assured employment to urban poor in a year. He said that this would help the urban poor in getting employment in an analogy of MNREGA nearer to their homes.
Thakur said that the party workers have done commendable work in the Covid-19 crisis, by providing the needy all possible help and assistance.
Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur, who represents Hamirpur Parliamentary constituency in Himachal, said Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur was effectively leading the state in this Covid-19 pandemic and the steps taken by Himachal government have been appreciated at the national level. He said that the whole world was collectively meeting the challenges of this virus, but even in this testing time the Congress Party was playing politics on this sensitive issue. He said that long pending issues such as abrogation of Article 370, bringing in Citizen Amendment Act and doing away with Triple Talaq were resolved due to the strong leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meanwhile, participating in a virtual rally of Kangra Chamba Parliamentary constituency from New Delhi, Union Minister for Textiles and Women & Child Development Smriti Irani hailed Himachal Chief Minister for making all out efforts to contain and effectively fight corona pandemic in the state. She said that the efforts made by the Chief Minister for containing the Corona virus have been appreciated at national level and Jai Ram Thakur have been ranked as the best Chief Minister in tackling corona virus by a survey conducted by an independent agency.