MillenniumPost
Nation

Corona pandemic a serious challenge to economy: Ashok Gehlot

During this Covid-19 crises which is rising in the nation, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot speaks about the Bhilwara Model plan, locust attack in the State, healthcare facilities along with social security in Rajasthan and plans to revive the economy, in an exclusive interview with Puja Banerjee. Excerpts

Kindly tell us about the Bhilwara Model in Rajasthan for the nation?

The essence of Bhilwara Model is ruthless containment, strict compliance of the curfew and screening of the total population of the district. We have followed the same model for all the hot spot areas in the state wherever Corona cases have emerged. In Bhilwara, the biggest challenge was to do screening and testing of the population of more than 3 million and to identify the people who had come in contact with the infected persons and quarantine them. Around 2000 teams carried out door to door survey for screening of whole population and enforcing home quarantine on those who showed influenza like symptoms and if required further testing was done. Bhilwara was once at a stage of zero positive cases and nearly all were recovered.

What has been the Social Security measures of the State government to fight against Covid-19?

We believe that Rajasthan Government has set an example regarding helping the poor and needy, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Looking to the livelihood problems of the poor and deprived sections, over 78 lakh people have been paid social security pension for 4 months amounting to Rs 2800 crore. The state government has deposited Rs 2500 each in the accounts of 33 lakh people who are not covered under the social security pension schemes. Those people who did not have the bank accounts were given cash through district collectors. Till now (up to June 8, 2020) 4.50 crore dry ration kits/cooked food packets have been distributed to such people. The state has provided free of cost wheat @ 10 kg per person for 3 months to 4.46 crore people covered under NFSA. In addition to this, 34 lakh people not covered under NFSA have been provided free of cost 10 kg wheat and 2 kg pulses at one go by the state at its own costs. A survey of self-employed people such as hawkers/street vendors/small shopkeepers etc has been specially conducted and almost 68.5 lakh people surveyed would also be provided wheat and pulses for 2 months.

More than 50 lakh people have been provided jobs under MNREGA since the resumption of MNREGA activities which is all time high in state. The Government of Rajasthan is leaving no stone unturned to provide help to the poor people including the migrants in Rajasthan during this pandemic.

How is the State Government placed in terms of the healthcare facilities and how important it is to upscale the infrastructures of the hospitals to fight against this deadly disease?

Strengthening of health infrastructure is happening even during Corona phase. We are ensuring that all district hospitals are equipped to have the testing and treatment facilities for Corona. This means providing isolation beds, testing machines and manpower, strengthening of laboratories, arrangement of equipment such as ventilators, PPE kits and other things. Our initiative of making operational 550 mobile OPD vans for non-Corona patients in all sub divisions, has been a phenomenal success with more than 8 lakh patients already benefitted from this. Telemedicine service by way of "esanjeevaniopd" portal is yet another significant step in the right direction. The State government has achieved a remarkable figure of 25,000-Corona-tests-a-day and is soon targeting to upgrade it to 40,000-tests-a-day. And the testing facility will be

provided across the state by covering all the districts very soon. While Central Government has discontinued the MP-LAD scheme, the state government has decided to continue MLA-LAD for another two years. Under the scheme, the state government will spend Rs 700-800 crore towards the betterment of citizens of Rajasthan.

The outbreak of desert locusts has posed a threat to the crops. How has the State government coped up with the emergency, and how the Centre has been dealing with the crises?

It is unfortunate that the farmers who are already distressed due to lockdown are also facing the locust onslaught. Last year also, there was severe locust attack and crop damage but the state government provided timely and adequate relief to the farmers. Learning from the last year experience, the state has done advance planning to arrange for the machinery, manpower, resources etc. We expect the locust warning organization, an organ of Central government, to be better equipped with necessary resources. Relief through crop insurance and SDRF funds will be ensured in cases of crop damage due to locust.

What are the plans of the Government to revive the State's Economy?

Coronavirus pandemic driven lockdown has posed serious challenge to the economy and it has become very difficult for the states to survive on their own. The State Government and its agencies are working tirelessly to resume all activities to an optimal level and bring the economy of the state back on track. Concrete steps are being taken to create a conducive environment for revival of industrial units.

For revival of economic activities, we have constituted a task force headed by Arvind Mayaram (Retd. Finance Secretary, GOI) to suggest suitable plan and policy interventions. We would always support the trade, industries, service sector, real estate, farm sector and all other sectors. We would come out with the policies realigned to the needs of different sectors.

Next Story
Share it