Meghalaya chief minister Conrad K. Sangma has urged all legislators and MDCs to work in coordination with the district administrations to ensure essential commodities to the people during lockdown.
The chief minister has urged the MLAs and MDCs reiterated his appeal to the people to cooperate with the authorities during the 21-day lockdown announced to break the transmission chain of Covid-19.
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“During this time of crisis the public representatives, social organisations and volunteers have to come together to aid the government,” Sangma told reporters after a meeting with MLAs on Wednesday.
The state government has allowed each MLA to utilise Rs 25 lakh from the MLA scheme to help mitigate the crisis during this lockdown.
The Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council (KHADC) has also allocated Rs 10 lakh to each member to help the people during this crisis.
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The chief minister said all the deputy commissioners in the state have been empowered to release Rs. 25 lakh from the MLA scheme for the year 2020-21 to each legislator.
He said the MLAs have to submit detailed list of essential commodities to be distributed to the beneficiaries and avail the funds, which will be sanctioned from the deputy commissioner’s office on immediate basis.
Sangma also informed that the government has been engaging with MLAs of different districts to solicit their views and suggestions which will enable the government to streamline the delivery mechanism.
The cabinet ministers in-charge of different regions of the State divided into three – Khasi, Jaiñtia and Garo – are continuously working at the regional level to ensure that all essential commodities are available, and they were making efforts to address the concerns raised by the district administrations of different regions.
“A system for coordinated efforts between the grassroots, the administration and the government has been put in place and we are working to ensure that all necessary measures are taken in the interest and welfare of the public,” the CM said.
He said the effort of the government to deal with this crisis with every possible measure was to ensure that there is improvement in the overall coordination of the different efforts that the government has initiated.
“There are issues and concerns which are very challenging but we will try our best to address those concerns,” the Meghalaya CM said.
“We have received positive suggestions from public representatives. The cooperation extended by the public representatives are very supportive and have united representatives from across parties,” he said.
He informed that there are grievances from different parts of the state and the government has been working overtime to redress the issues.
“This is an unprecedented situation and the administration under the leadership of Chief Secretary has been working tirelessly to address public concerns,” the CM added.
On measures taken in view of the cases of Covid-19 positive in Assam, the CM said as per the Union home ministry guidelines the inter-state and inter-district movement has been restricted.
Asked about the post lockdown from April 14, the chief minister said all countries across the world are taking measures and “India and Meghalaya as a state is also prepared to deal with the situation”.
“The government is aware of the Covid-19 crisis globally and is prepared to designate a hospital for similar cases in the future,” he added.
Urging the people of the State to cooperate with the government during this crisis, the Meghalaya CM said, “Through this lockdown, we should be able to break the transmission chain.”