100 pc Health Audit to be conducted using App
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Apr 30: The Jammu and Kashmir Government has approved relief package worth Rs 350 crore for eight categories of people who have been affected by Coronavirus pandemic including payment of Rs 1000 per month for three months for various sections and Rs 25,000 upfront per Self Help Group set up under ‘Umeed’ scheme to begin with and Rs 75,000 subsequently.
A decision to this effect was taken by the Administrative Council (AC) in its meeting held here yesterday under the chairmanship of Lieutenant Governor Girish Chandra Murmu and was announced by the UT Government spokesman and Principal Secretary Planning, Development and Monitoring Department Rohit Kansal at a press conference this evening.
Kansal also announced that the Government will conduct 100 percent ‘Health Audit’ in the entire UT using Swasthya Nidhi App and the process is likely to be completed within next one week to 10 days.
“We are conscious of the fact that the lockdown has led to hardships to a number of people. The UT administration under the directions of the LG has been implementing a number of welfare measures for labourers, workers, destitute etc,” Kansal said.
Under Income Support category, the Government has earmarked Rs 46.40 crore to provide Rs 1000, per month, for three months to a varied class of workers.
It includes Rs 35.2 crore to around 1.76 lakh construction workers; Rs 1.8 crore to Houseboat and Shikarawalas registered with Toursim Department (numbering 5791); Rs 8.1 crore to Tourist Guides/ Ponywalas/ Palkiwalas/Pithuwalas registered with SMVDSB/SASB and TDAs (27000 in number); Rs 0.255 crore to registered active flower growers (Number 850 out of 7000) and Rs 1.05 crore to Street vendors (Rehriwalas, Phadiwalas, Thelawalahas) registered with SMC/JMC. Construction workers who have already been paid for one month through DBT.
Similarly, under Business Support Category Rs 25,000 upfront now (and Rs 75,000 later) would be provided to Balance SHGs in Umeed (numbering 30000) and Rs. 25,000 upfront now (and Rs 75,000 later) to Women Entrepreneurs/aggregators through WDC (10000 groups of 60000 women) and Rs 1 lakh to Handloom/Handicraft SHGs (20000 SHGs) costing a total of Rs 300 crore.
In addition, he said, the Administrative Council also approved string of administrative measures, which include renewal/extension of registration certificates for licenses, permits and other statutory clearances beyond 31.03.2020 to 30.06.2020. Levy of fixed component of power charges has been deferred in respect of all the registered commercial establishments across all the sectors till 30.06.2020.
The AC has also approved formation of a Committee under the Chairmanship of Commissioner/Secretary, Industries and Commerce with Administrative Secretaries/representatives of Finance, Planning & Development, PWD (R&B), Jal Shakti, RDD and other Departments as necessary, to examine pending payments to suppliers from each Department and clear payments to supplies which meet codal formalities. Further the Committee will meet on daily basis to release all pending liabilities, which are clear for payments, by 15.05.2020.
Kansal said that the COVID 19 pandemic spread rate has significantly slowed down in Jammu and Kashmir, even as there is no room for complacency and the situation demands extra watchfulness.
“We continue to have a number of Red Zones and we need to be ever alert and watchful. Premature exuberance or celebration can cost us very dear”, he said.
He added that Government will further strengthen the surveillance system and procedure. “We are conducting a 100% Health Audit for the entire J&K using Swasthya Nidhi App. and the process is likely to be completed within next few days. We are strongly encouraging the use of Aarogya Setu App. and so far, more than 8 lakh users have installed the App in the UT”, he informed. However, he called for continuing self restraint and observance of discipline.
“Our current position may appear comfortable but let me remind you that we are dealing with an unpredictable and dangerous enemy” he said and observed that many neighbouring States have learnt the hard way when they have seen their cases show a sudden jump e.g. when many of their returning citizens tested positive. We too have a number of students and labourers stranded outside the UT who have started returning home. Stating that there is no room for complacency, he added that adequate precautions are being taken while allowing them inside the UT.
Giving details about general control measures, he said as of this moment, the total number of cases in J&K is 614 of which the number of active cases is 390. 384 of these are in the Kashmir division and 6 in the Jammu region.
“As you are already aware, there have been 216 recoveries which include young children and we also have had 8 unfortunate deaths,” he said.
On the overall COVID situation, the UT has a good report card so far, he said and added “The daily positivity rate has shown a downward trend and the doubling rate of positive cases has decidedly slowed down.” He said a report this morning has showed that the UT’s testing rates continue to be among the highest while our percentage rise continues to be low resulting in a high doubling rate which is over 12 days. “Our mortality is just above 1%, which is quite low given the number of cases. The most notable part is that over 92% of the cases can be traced. All these are positive factors,” he added.
He expressed gratitude to people for the excellent cooperation in restricting the movement and helping maintain an effective lockdown. “This has helped us to slow the spread of the virus and put in place a strong containment strategy,” he said and added that it has also helped to gain valuable time for building the capacities such as 17 Standalone/ dedicated COVID Hospitals, over 20000 Isolation Beds and nearly 50000 non-hospital quarantine beds.
He said UT is following an aggressive testing strategy and continue to be among the top few regions in the country in this regard. “While our testing capacity has expanded from 1 lab to 4 labs, the testing rate is now about 1500 per million, one of the highest in the country,” he informed. “we have also been continuously ramping up our facilities- we started with less than 100 tests daily; a few days ago we broke the 1000 tests per day barrier, he said and added “Yesterday we conducted 1800 tests and we will shortly break the 2000 tests/day barrier”.
The press conference was also attended by Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Commissioner/Secretary Industries; Bhupinder Kumar, Mission Director NHM and Dr. Syed Sehrish Asgar, Director Information and public Relations.
Stranded students asked to fill up forms
The Jammu and Kashmir administration today asked students stranded in other parts of the country due to the Coronavirus lockdown to provide necessary information to the Higher Education Department if they want to return back to their homes.
The students have been asked to fill up forms on the J&K Higher Education Department’s website jkhighereducation.nic.in.
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