Chandigarh, May 26- Haryana Chief Minister, Mr. Manohar Lal said that the global outbreak of corona pandemic is an unprecedented phenomenon, which has posed a lot of challenges before the people, government and administration during the last two and a half months. He said that the people's patience and support in following the restrictions during the lock down period and efficient arrangements made by the State Government has made it possible to deal with pandemic.

The Chief Minister was holding a meeting of Smart City Project with the officials at the auditorium of the Mini Secretariat in Karnal today, whereafter he interacted with the journalists of the district through video conferencing.

The Chief Minister said that although Corona hasn’t yet been eradicated but the police, doctors, para-medical staff, sanitation workers and employees of other departments have set great standards of selfless service in this time. He further shared that the Chief Minister, Ministers and Senior officers at the headquarters at Chandigarh have been coordinating with the districts during this period and also appreciated efficient management in the districts under the leadership of Deputy Commissioners.

He said that the Chief Ministers have now got the permission to visit the districts, after which he has visited Karnal today and in the next few days he will again hold meetings in the district.

During the meeting on the Smart City Project, the agenda pertaining to projects of about Rs 300 crores was presented to the Chief Minister by Karnal Smart City Ltd. The Chief Minister said that to make the city smart, the entire planning should be done in such a way that it benefits all the citizens.

He said that the planning of smart city is not limited to constructing high walls but should also include the facilities of supply of fresh drinking water, sewerage and drainage systems, checking air pollution, developing proper rain water harvesting system on government and non-government buildings like schools, colleges and factories, system to display air quality index on display boards, automatic challaning with the help of CCTV for traffic violations and pollution due to waste, “Swachhata” app, development of more parks and open gyms across the city.

Welcoming the Chief Minister, Deputy Commissioner of Karnal, Mr. Nishant Kumar Yadav appraised him of the activities carried in the district amid COVID-19.

He said that about 5135 tests of Corona have been conducted so far, out of which 33 cases were declared positive, 16 have been cured and 16 are active cases. One death has occurred due to Corona. He said that random sampling of 1386 persons comprising police personnel, vendors and delivery boys was conducted. Initially, there were about 64 PPE kits, now more than 300 PPE kits are available in the district. He said that 4 lakh masks were distributed by volunteer groups, about 91 thousand sanitizers were also distributed to prevent the transmission of corona. He said that about 1 lakh masks were also distributed free of cost to the newspaper readers. A quarantine center with a capacity of 700 persons has been set up at Sainik School in the district and a quarantine facility for doctors has been set up at Kalki Bhavan in National Dairy Research Institute.

The mobile testing lab was sent from village to village in two ambulances to conduct regular medical check-ups, he added He informed that about 40 thousand ration-packets have been distributed so far during the pandemic.

He said that needy families were also adopted by the kind hearted people of Karnal during this hour of cricis.

He said that through distress token system, ration has been distributed to 7000 families and the ration for May-June will also be distributed.

Amoung those present during the event were Additional Chief Secretary of Urban Local Bodies Department, S.N Roy, Deputy Commissioner of Karnal, Mr. Nishant Kumar Yadav along with other officials.