Chandigarh, April 20: While putting an end to ongoing lockdown rumours, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today said that despite getting Lockdown suggestions, no lockdown would be imposed in the State.  Though there would be strict compliance of COVID-19 guidelines in the State so as to ensure containment of virus.

The Chief Minister urged the labourers and workers to remain relaxed and keep doing their work. There is no need to panic.

He said that adequate arrangements have been made to ensure that no labourer and worker faces any problem. State Government is standing with every worker working in the State, said the Chief Minister.

"Last year many labourers had faced problem due to the lockdown, but this time keeping the interest of the labourers and workers, especially those working on daily and monthly wages, no lockdown would be imposed in Haryana," said the Chief Minister.

The Chief Minister was interacting with the people of the state today during the ' Haryana ki Baat' programme held through live telecast.

During the programme, the Chief Minister assured the people of the State that Haryana is ready to tackle any situation expected to be arising due to the current COVID-19 surge.

"To ensure adequate medical arrangement for COVID-19 patients, the State Government has recently held discussion with the DRDO officials for setting up a 500-1000 bedded dedicated COVID hospital in Panipat", informed the Chief Minister.

State Level Covid Monitoring Committee constituted

The Chief Minister said that at this time the state is going through a difficult phase once again.  There is a steady increase in COVID-19 cases, which is serious matter of concern.  In the last one and a half months, the number of new infection  cases has reached about 7000 in one day. 

"While, to deal with this emergent situation a state-level COVID Monitoring Committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of Health Minister Sh. Anil Vij," said the Chief Minister.

He informed that  the said Committee is constantly monitoring the status of infection spread  in the state.  Adequate amount of oxygen supply, ICU beds, ventilators, masks and PPE kits etc have been arranged in every hospital across the State.

Sh. Manohar Lal said that there is no shortage of oxygen  supply in hospitals right now.  Liquid oxygen is being produced in the oxygen plant at Panipat.  Simultaneously, efforts are being made to ensure the availability of oxygen in gas form.

Those having mild and moderate symptoms should adopt home isolation

The Chief Minister appealed that those having mild and moderate COVID symptoms should opt for home isolation. He said that those patients  who do not have home  isolation arrangements,   526 District COVID Centers have been set up across the State.  An arrangement of about 45,000 beds have been made in these Centres, he added.

He further informed that there are about 281 dedicated  COVID Hospitals in the State having a bed capacity of 21000.

The Chief Minister said that  private hospitals have also been requested to give first priority to those who are tested positive of COVID-19 infection. He informed that in the private hospitals, the cost of treatment for COVID-19  has been fixed from Rs  8,000 to 18,000  per day.

Focus  on Testing and Vaccination

The Chief Minister said that now the number of testing in the state has been increased to about 40,000 tests per day.  Apart from this, on daily basis, COVID-19 vaccine is being administered to more than 70,000  people in the state.  About 33 lakh people have been vaccinated so far.

He said that from April 20, 2021 till  next five days, a mega vaccination drive would be run across the State in which maximum administration of  vaccination would be ensured to the eligible beneficiaries.

The Chief Minister also thanked Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi's decision to start the vaccination drive for  all those above 18 years, from May 1, 2021.

Smooth and hassle free procurement continues

The Chief Minister said that like last year, this year also wheat procurement is being done during COVID-19 crisis.  He said that this time too, COVID-19 protocol  is being ensured in every Mandi  and Procurement Center.

He informed that this time,  as many as 396 mandis as well as 77 Procurement Centres have been set up. About 60 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has arrived in the mandis.  Out of this, 53 lakh MT has been procured and 25 lakh MT has been lifted, he added.

The Chief Minister  said that this time the state government has decided to directly transfer the procurement money in the verified accounts of the farmers within 72 hours.  So far, about Rs 2785 crore has been paid to the farmers. 

He informed that till now  the payment of only one farmer has been delayed by one day, while payment of three farmers have been delayed by nine days. Similarly, there are large numbers of farmers whose payments have been delayed by one day.  Therefore the state government has given an amount of  Rs 7,80,000 as interest to 10,769 farmers for the  delayed payments.

Mera Pani Meri Virasat scheme launched

The Chief Minister said that under the Mera Pani Meri Virasat Yojana  launched for the purpose of water conservation, the State Government had called upon the farmers to sow other alternative crops in place of paddy and happily  the farmers have adopted crop diversification  on 96,000 acres of land.  He informed that under this scheme,  an incentive of Rs. 7000 is being given  per acre to the farmers.

He said that this  time too, the government would urge farmers to sow crops other than paddy on about 2 lakh acres of land so that water can be saved.

The Chief Minister said that earlier the land owner used to get compensation or money for the procured crop, but the present state government has made a provision that even the cultivator who had taken the land on rent for cultivation would also get the money.

Farmers' income to be doubled by 2022

The Chief Minister said that the State Government is working towards realizing Prime Minister, Sh. Narendra Modi's vision of doubling the income of farmers by the year 2022.   He said that even during this hour of crisis, dedicated efforts have been made to ensure that the income of the farmers is doubled.

 

"Some people are trying to mislead the farmers that over certain issues but I would like to clarify that neither the Central or State Government intends to force the farmer to do anything which they thing is of disadvantage to them", said the Chief Minister.

Kisan Mitra Yojana

Sh. Manohar Lal said that the State Government is dedicated to working towards increasing the income of those farmers who have small agricultural land.  He said that Kisan Mitra Yojana will be launched to ensure financial management of the farmers', apart from increasing their income. Under this, scheme one person will be appointed on voluntary basis who would guide farmers about financial management.

‘Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana’

Sh. Manohar Lal said that since last six years the State Government’s strategy for implementation is guided by principles of Antyodaya – of serving and uplifting the last person first. While, following the same path, an ambitious Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP) scheme has been launched that aims to identify the poorest one lakh families in the State so as to ensure economic upliftment of one lakh families.

“Every needy person has the first right on the government and with this mantra ‘Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana’ has been launched that will be an umbrella mission encompassing all schemes of Government to identify the scheme or set of schemes to supplement the upliftment of these one lakh families” said the Chief Minister.

Sh. Manohar Lal said that State Government is moving forward with Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya's motto of serving and uplifting the last person first  is the key for the happiness of a society.