Coronavirus: J&K report fall in active cases; UT forms committee to develop action plan
Jammu and Kashmir Tuesday reported a fall in active cases of novel coronavirus, from 250 to 244 in the last 24 hours. Official sources said that the UT reported eight new positive cases including six from Kashmir and two in Jammu. Against it, Kashmir also reported 14 recoveries as well.
“For now, our luck seems to be holding!!!,’’ tweeted UT government Spokesperson Rohit Kansal who also is Principal Secretary Planning, Development and Monitoring. “New cases-6 from Kahmir and 02 from Jammu division. Fourteen recoveries, all from Kahmir,’’ he added.
Though the UT has a total of 278 COVID positive cases, the active ones are 244 of which, 30 have recovered and four died.
Of the two testing positive in Jammu, one happened to be a doctor working at a private hospital. He was reportedly the contact of a patient already under treatment for chronic liver disease and later tested positive. With this, he became the fifth doctor to be tested positive in Jammu division.
Meanwhile, Samba district administration enforced complete clampdown at Supwal and restricted the movement of men, material and means to and from the area. This followed declaration of Supwal a “hot spot’’ after a person tested positive on Monday.
Samba Deputy Commmissioner Rohit Khajuria said that the entire area has been sanitized with disinfectants and medical teams have been deputed for door to door survey. The officers have been directed to provide essential items to local residents at their door step, he added.
In Udhampur town and adjoining areas, the district administration decided to allow grocery, dairy, chemist shops open for four hours from 8 am onwards. For fruits and vegetables, ward wise, mini truck mechanism as decided by the municipality shall be supplying, read an order issued by Udhampur Deputy Commissioner Piyush Singla, adding that any violation may lead to sealing of the shop.
UT forms committee to develop action plan
The Jammu and Kashmir Government has constituted an eight member committee headed by Financial Commissioner Finance as its chairman to develop an action plan for restoring normal economic activity in all sectors in the Union Territory.
It has members in Principal Secretary Animal/Sheep Husbandary/Agriculture & Horticulture Department, Principal Secretary Planning, Development and Monitoring Department, Commissioner/Secretary Industries & Commerce, Commissioner/Secrertary Public Workers (R&B) Department, Secretary General Administration Department and Secretary Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.
The Committee, according to the order, will also develop a package for assistance to industry. Agriculture, horticulture and animal husbandary sectors to ensure their normal functioning. It will further finalize a time bound plan for recruitment to vacancies at various levels of the government, besides processes to be followed for early recruitment, keeping in mind the fiscal balance and monitor the recruitment process.
The representatives of trade, industry and various other associations during an interaction with UT’s Lt Governor G C Murmu during the day had demanded the government to allow industrial units resume operations, assuring that industrialists will own responsibility of ensuring sanitization, social distancing and hygiene as per the guidelines. They also apprised the Lt Governor around 50,000 labourers working in Brick Kilns across Jammu were left stranded due to lockdown, saying that the Brick Kilns units also be allowed to resume functioning as the stocks of bricks have also reportedly exhausted.
Their other demands included treatment of non-COVID patients; hiring of SRTC Trucks for transportation of essentials from outside the UT by the Traders; supply of ration to daily earners; entry of heavy vehicles during day time; installation of sanitization tunnels in high footfall areas like sabzi mandis , warehouses etc.
The Lt Governor, while interacting with the representatives of the associations, assured them that all the genuine demands and issues projected by them would be looked into on priority. He observed that a Committee has already been constituted for resumption of commercial and industrial activity in a controlled manner, adding the Government of India (GoI) is also issuing guidelines by tomorrow, and steps would be to facilitate the trade and industry accordingly, he added.
The Lt Governor asked them to ensure adherence of social distancing norms and said that it is a responsibility of every individual to play his role in the fight against COVID-19 as 78 per cent cases in Jammu and Kashmir are asymptomatic, which poses a challenging task for the UT Administration alone to combat the pandemic.