NE NEWS SERVICE
GANDHINAGAR, MARCH 31
Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Tuesday announced that free foodgrains for poor will be distributed from Wednesday, April 1. This will cover 3.25 crore people in 66 lakh families holding Antyoda and Priority House-holds (PHH) ration cards. All steps have been taken to maintain social distancing norms during the distribution, Rupani said.
Under this scheme, 17,000-odd recognised fair price shops will contact cardholders, and distribute ration to groups of 25-25 to maintain social distancing after issuing tokens. Migrant workers settled in Gujarat to get foodgrains under Annabrahma Yojna from April 4, even if they don’t possess ration cards.
The state government will build relief camps, sheds in rural areas across Gujarat at Rs 40 crore for the boarding and lodging of migrant workers.
કોરોના વાયરસની પ્રવર્તમાન સ્થિતીમાં જાહેર થયેલા રાષ્ટ્રવ્યાપી લોકડાઉનને પગલે રાજ્યના તથા રાજ્ય બહારથી ગુજરાતમાં આવીને વસેલા ગરીબો-અંત્યોદય પરિવારો-નિરાધારોના લાભાર્થે આવતીકાલ 1 એપ્રિલ, 2020 થી વિનામૂલ્યે અનાજ વિતરણ સહિતના મુખ્યમંત્રી શ્રી વિજયભાઈ રૂપાણીના વિવિધ મહત્વના નિર્ણયો pic.twitter.com/Vf96e81KmX
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) March 31, 2020
A day before fair price shops under the Public Distribution System (PDS) open to give away free foodgrains and essentials to 66 lakh families or half of the state population the state government on Tuesday said the people will be asked to come in a staggered manner to collect the essentials items. The distribution will begin at 8 am and continue till 6 pm or 8 pm as per the need.
“An estimated 3.25 crore of the population which is 50 per cent of the state’s population will be covered when the distribution of wheat, rice, dal, sugar, and salt will begin on Wednesday for 66 lakh families who are covered under the Antodaya and Priority Households (PHH),” said Ashwini Kumar, Secretary to Chief Minister.
In each village, a committee comprising a local teacher, Talati or gram Sevak, police jawan and social activist, has been formed to ensure that social distance norms are followed during distribution, officials said. In urban centres, three-member committees comprising a teacher, police and social activist have been formed for this purpose.
As part of this free distribution for April 2020, the state government will provide 3.5 kilograms of wheat and 1.5 kilograms of rice per person. The shops will also provide one kilogram of sugar, dal, and salt per family.
When asked if there was a shortage or black-marketing of groundnut oil in Gujarat, the IAS officer said, “Our civil supplies department is monitoring the prices of groundnut oil. During the last Kharif season, a good amount of groundnut has come into the market. NAFED has good stocks of groundnut and it is undertaking the constant sale of its stocks as well. I have not received any information about a shortage or increase in prices.”
Kumar said over 12 lakh food packets have been distributed across the state so far.
Govt allocates Rs 40 cr for migrant workers
In a bid to ensure that migrant workers do not continue to leave the state, the Gujarat government has allocated Rs. 40 crore to make food and shelter arrangements for them, officials said on Tuesday. Kits containing food-grains will also be distributed to them.
Let's become #CoronaWarrior by obeying the lockdown and leave the rest to the Government, who is leaving no stone unturned in the fight against #COVID19#IndiaFightsCorona #GujaratFightsCovid19 pic.twitter.com/EilmdYJYCq
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) March 31, 2020
“To ensure that the migrant workers coming to the state from Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Kerala earn their bread, do not return to their native places and arrangements for food and shelter are made for them here, the state government has approved Rs. 40 crore,” said Ashwini Kumar, secretary to the chief minister.
Ahmedabad will be given Rs. 3 crore, Surat (2.5 crores), and Rs. 2 crores each to Vadodara, Rajkot, and Gandhinagar. The other districts will be given one crore each.
“From April 4 onwards, under the Anna Brahm Yojana, the government will provide a food-grain kit to migrant workers coming from other states after the respective district collectors make a list of such workers who usually do not have ration cards,” said Kumar.
— Nitin Patel (Modi ka Parivar) (@Nitinbhai_Patel) March 31, 2020
Over 500 migrant workers stuck at Gujarat border
Over 500 migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar were stuck at the Shamlaji border town in Gujarat after the Rajasthan Police refused them entry, an official said on Tuesday.
These labourers are now being sent to shelter homes in Gujarat, said Inspector General, Gandhinagar Range, Mayanksinh Chavda, who rushed to the spot after getting information about the matter.
Thousands of Gujarat-based migrant workers had earlier started their journey on foot to reach Rajasthan following the announcement of lockdown last week to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Modi’s mother Hiraba donates Rs 25,000 to Covid-19 Fund
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nonagenarian mother Hiraba on Tuesday donated Rs 25,000 from her personal savings in a special fund set up to fight the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
She deposited the money in the PM-CARES Fund, created by the Centre to help in efforts to contain the spread of the virus and provide relief to those affected by COVID-19, said the PM’s younger brother, Pankaj Modi. “Earlier, she had made a contribution of Rs 5,000 for the relief operations in Jammu and Kashmir after devastating floods.
“Now, she has donated Rs 25,000, which she had saved over the years, to fight coronavirus,” said Pankaj Modi.
42 Surat residents untraceable after return from abroad
At least 42 residents of Surat district who returned to India from foreign trips this month have not been found at the residential addresses mentioned in their passports, an official said on Tuesday.
Because of the coronavirus outbreak, the Centre had provided the Gujarat government with a list of around 27,000 people whose passports mentioned their addresses in the state so that they could be tracked and their health monitored.
However, 42 of these people, whose passports mentioned that they are residents of Surat, have not been found at the specified addresses, a district health official said.
Of these 42 ‘missing’ persons, 16 are from Palsana area, nine from Bardoli, six each from Choryasi and Olpad localities, three from Mangrol and two from Kamrej, he said.
After their foreign trips, most of these people landed at various airports like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Lucknow, and Chennai, the official said.
Survivors share the experience of fighting coronavirus
Social distancing and strong will power are the ‘mantras’ shared by some of the coronavirus patients who defeated the deadly viral infection and recovered from it.
Their stories offer a ray of hope to other patients who are battling the disease.
While one of the survivors said she has emerged stronger after recovery, another one urged people to follow social distancing and stay at home, saying it is the only way to contain the spread of the infection.
A 34-year-old woman who returned from Finland and couple in their early 60s, who had a history of travel to Saudi Arabia, tested positive for coronavirus on March 18 and 20, respectively. They were discharged from a hospital here on Monday.
Besides, a 21-year-old woman from Surat, who had a history of travel to the UK, was admitted to a hospital on March 18 and was discharged on Sunday.
The Surat-based woman, who was among the first few cases of coronavirus reported in Gujarat, posted an emotional note on Instagram after being discharged.
‘I have come out of the pandemic (as a) stronger (person). I wouldn’t have made it without the support of my family, friends, well-wishers and most importantly God. I walked the journey – of being the first positive coronavirus case in Gujarat to the first recovery in Gujarat. I pray that each affected person be healed as fast as I did,’ she said.
The 34-year-old woman from Ahmedabad who has recovered regretted her decision to travel abroad which resulted in her contracting the infection.
She urged people to remain indoors in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Talking to some media persons over the phone, she said, “From my personal experience, I must say that there is no alternative to staying home. The risk of going abroad I took was not worth it. You are safe until you are home.” Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani spoke to the four survivors over the phone on Monday and wished them a healthy life ahead.
The survivors also thanked Rupani and his government for providing them with the medical treatment which helped them recover from the deadly infection.
