RANCHI: Amid the rising cases of Covid-19 in rural areas, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren held a virtual meeting with panchayat representatives on Thursday to gauge the ground situation in villages to prepare an action plan.
Mostly districts of the state report a triple-digit spike of Covid cases on regular basis which subsequently has added the deaths cases also.
Addressing a large gathering of panchayat representatives (virtually) from various districts, chief minister Hemant Soren said, “We are continuously monitoring and taking feedback of the ground reality so that we can better prepare plans in our fight against Covid-19.
He also urged to the panchayat representatives to become “brand ambassadors” of Covid appropriate behaviour so others in the area could be motivated to abide by norms and help in curbing the transmission of the coronavirus. He also asked them to function as the eyes and ears of the local district administration for better coordination.
During ‘three hours’ of long conversation with the chief minister, the representatives of panchayat have pointed out that there is a lack of testing facilities in the villages, which could be the concerns for all of us when migrant workers will return to their homes from the other states, regions. And, there is also a fear amongst the people on the outbreak of the Covid-19 in the remote areas.
A representative from Garhwa district, was of the view that the government had ensured testing and tracking of those coming from outside, which was one of the reasons that the Covid-19 cases were less as compared to this time.
Another delegate from Dumka district stated that most people had no idea where to go for testing, which resulting the chaos amongst the mass population. Although, they are suffering from cold, cough, fever which they think its seasonal one, which needs to be looked in addressed on priority for preventing the spread of virus in the rural areas.
Many representatives asked for quarantine centres to be set up at panchayat, block levels similar to last year to ensure better monitoring of suspected cases.
Civil Right Body Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch (JJM) Asks for testing drive be conducted
On this occasion, Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch (JJM), a conglomeration of rights organisations, asked the state government to conduct a special testing drive across rural areas to identify patients and their treatment.
“We demand supply of medical kits, quick testing and diagnosis, enforcement of home isolation norms and surveillance in a proper way on immediate basis,” the manch said in a statement.