Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
Chandigarh
All the Cabinet Ministers of the Punjab government have consented to donate their one-month salary to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund, as the state grapples with the coronavirus outbreak.
In a press communiqué, Punjab Parliamentary Affairs Minister Brahm Mohindra said that this was a goodwill gesture of the Punjab Ministers to express their solidarity with the people of the state in their fight against the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
He said that the government is pro-active in discharging its duty to provide the medical care and treatment of the people and to provide all the essential services and amenities to the people in this crucial time.
He said that the state government is also working shoulder to shoulder with all the workforce, which comprises; Police Personnel, district administration, doctor, nurses, health workers, who are working at the ground zero to check the spread of COVID-19 in the state.
Mohindra said that the Chief Minister has entrusted the task of talking to all the ministers in this regard to seek their approval to donate their one month salary into Chief Minister’s Relief Fund. He said that he has talked with all the ministers and they have given their consent in this regard.
Earlier, Ministers Tript Rajinder Bajwa and Balbir Singh Sidhu had announced that they would be donating a month’s salary to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund to help people grappling with the coronavirus outbreak.
In a similar move, to help those whose livelihood is affected as a result of the state-wide lockdown, all IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officers of Punjab cadre will contribute one-day salary to the Chief Minister Relief Fund, said a tweet by the state government.
Balbir Singh Sidhu is the state’s Health, Family Welfare and Labour Minister.
Sidhu said that the health department was working on “war footing” to screen everyone who had recently returned from a foreign country, as screening was one of the ways to save people from COVID-19.
The Health Minister said that in the present scenario anyone coming from abroad has to undergo mandatory isolation/ quarantine for 14 days.
If symptoms appear, confirmation tests are done free of cost to rule out Covid-19 infection, he added.
A web-based application ‘COVA’ has been developed to provide information to people regarding Covid-19 and guide them to the nearest health facilities.
In his statement, Bajwa urged people in Punjab to stay in their houses till March 31 to prevent spreading the disease. Bajwa currently holds the Rural Development, Higher Education, Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development and Fisheries portfolios in the Congress-led government.
Due to the lockdown, there is a strong possibility of a damaging effect on daily wage workers and poor people and they may also be a shortage of food, he said.
Bajwa appealed to industrial houses, social and religious leaders to come forward to provide all possible help to the people.
He also appealed to the people to fully cooperate with the government. He said that there was “no need to panic” but a need to follow all the instructions issued by the health department.
IPS, PPS officers, too, chip in
The IPS and PPS officers of the state have also announced to donate a day’s salary for the welfare of police personnel involved in combating the deadly virus.
DGP Dinkar Gupta said all the Indian Police Service and Punjab Police Service officers have volunteered to contribute one day’s salary to the Police Welfare Fund towards welfare activities for the police personnel battling Coronavirus pandemic across the state.
A sum of nearly Rs. 33.2 lakhs is likely to be contributed as one day’s salary component of 121 IPS and 809 PPS officers in the state, said Dupta.
