NE NEWS SERVICE
AMARAVATI, APRIL 15
Andhra Pradesh government will double the COVID-19 testing capacity to 4,000 tests per day, said the Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy here on Wednesday.
Addressing a review meeting, the Chief Minister said as of now more than 2,100 tests are being done per day and that would be scaled up to 4,000 a day by using TrueNat TB testing equipment, he added.
Jagan has given instructions the officials to conduct tests on around 32,000 members who have been identified during the family survey. The rapid testing should start by taking every Mandal as a unit, he said.
The Chief Minister sought details on the facilities being provided at quarantine centres and ordered the officials to provide Rs 2,000 financial assistance to the poor who are returning home from quarantine centers besides performing weekly tests.
The officials said that Rs 500 is being spent on every person for their food, bed and blanket, Rs 50 for sanitation purpose, and Rs 300 on transportation. A double room or single room is being provided to the members in quarantine and being sent home after medical protocol, officials said.
The Chief Minister instructed the officials to forward the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to the lower authorities and ensure that the medical safety equipment is being supplied to frontline workers and emergency staff.
Priority should be given to banana and watermelon marketing and monitor edible oil prices. All the appropriate measures should be taken for the safety of farmers and monitor the prices of essential goods, the Chief Minister told officials.
Deputy Chief Minister Alla Nani, Ministers Botsa Satyanarayana, Mopidevi Venkataramana, Kurasala Kannababu, and Chief Secretary Nilam Sawhney, and DGP Gautam Sawang were present.
AP plans farmer-centric COVID-Agri plan
Andhra Pradesh government’s tough and timely actions during the pandemic coronavirus outbreak is ensuring the constant stabilization of the agriculture sector with its farmer-centric COVID-Agri plan.
The Government’s pragmatic approach to safeguard the interests of the farmers of the state aims to help farmers overcome all the hurdles posed by COVID-19 and the consequential lockdown in the state.
The plan of decentralization applied to the Rythu Bazaars has resulted in setting up of additional 471 temporary Rythu Bazars and counting apart from the existing 100 Rythu Bazar. It increases the availability of essentials in abundance to citizens in nook and corner of the state. This helps authorities ensure that the farmers garner fair prices for their products and no cases of distress selling are reported. The decentralized system also helps authorities implement physical distancing norms by avoiding crowds at limited locations.
451 idle APSRTC buses converted as Mobile Rhythur Bazars
Utilizing the possible resources of the government, a total of 451 APSRTC buses have been converted into Mobile Rythu Bazars selling a wide range of essentials straight from the farm. This ensures that the supply of the essentials reaches even the most remote areas apart from helping authorities implement social distancing norms on the ground. This further increases sale of Rythu Bazars benefiting the farmer at large.
The department of Agriculture Marketing has also scaled up its door delivery services. One fourth (25%) of the products are being sold through the door delivery system. The process of onboarding logistical partners is underway and an app will be launched soon
While making sure that the farmer is taken care of economically, the government also understands its responsibility to save the farmers and the entire community in general from the Coronavirus outbreak. To ensure the same, the government has taken up measures to create awareness while implementing social distance norms on the ground across Rythu Bazars and markets.
One such step is markings using permanent paint and lime powder has been made across all Rythu Bazars. The demarcations were made following all ICMR and GOI guidelines for social distancing to avoid crowds during the relaxation period. Tokens are being issued at certain Rythu Bazars during peak hours. Most temporary Rythu Bazars are located in open areas to facilitate the same.
To ensure that no vendor misuses the lockdown and charges exorbitant prices for essentials and the list is displayed infant of shops, supermarkets, and Rythu Bazaars. The district committee is fixing prices for 10 essential commodities such as rice, 4 varieties of dal, 3 varieties of oil, and vegetables. A special Spandana helpline has been set up and citizens are requested to call 1902 to report any price discrepancies.
The department of agriculture marketing has come up with a mobile application, using which citizens can order vegetables and fruits to their respective doorsteps.
Farmers cultivating fruits like Bananas are facing their own set of problems. To solve those and safeguarding the interests of the consumer parallelly, the government is procuring huge volumes of the fruit and selling it to households at nominal prices.
Bananas are presently being sold at 10 per kg while supermarkets across the state are charging nearly 70 per kg. A total of 7000 MT of Bananas have already been procured by the department.
Over 700 procurement centres which are nearer to farms and farmlands across the state have been set up. Jowar, Red Gram, Bengal Gram, Maize, and Turmeric are procured through these centers. This leaves minimal distances for the farmers to travel, to sell their products. It also ensures that the crop is procured from farmers across the state leaving none behind and helps farmers save on transportation costs.
A data collecting system has been out in place. Every day, data of price fluctuations and recorded prices are obtained by the government from all the 11,000 villages in the state. This helps the authorities identify those pockets in which crops are being sold below the Minimum Support Price (MSP). When such cases are reported, authorities initiated remedial measures to correct the same. A strict vigil on price fluctuations also helps nab violators.
The implementation of all these factors together were strictly being monitored from the village level agriculture assistant to the hierarchy in the government. The Chief Minister has made clear that no farmer in the state should face any issue at these tough times of pandemic COVID-19, a release from Chief Minister’s Office said.
