Sikkim best performing State in both fronts: Indra Hang
BIJOY GURUNG
GANGTOK: Sikkim has been the best performing State in the nation to prevent spread of COVID-19 and ensuring minimum public hardships during the ongoing 21-national lockdown, said Lok Sabha MP Indra Hang Subba.
The Lok Sabha MP was responding to questions from SIKKIM EXPRESS in an online interview on Thursday, the Day-16 of the national lockdown.
I believe that Sikkim is the best performing State in both fronts – preventing coronavirus spread and ensuring minimum public hassles during the national lockdown, said Indra Hang. He pointed out that Sikkim had much earlier taken a strong decision to stop entry of both foreign and domestic tourists to prevent COVID-19 transmissions in Sikkim even though tourism is the backbone of the State’s economy.
“We are totally following the national lockdown and so far, there are no positive COVID-19 cases in Sikkim. Credit for this goes to the Sikkim government under the leadership of our Chief Minister and to the people of Sikkim,” said Indra Hang. He thanked the people returning home from other States and nations for staying under home or government facility quarantine. Given the nature of the pandemic, any carelessness would have endangered the whole State but they showed total cooperation and stayed in quarantine in the best interests of the society, he said.
As to the question on minimizing public hardships during the lockdown of three weeks, the MP said the State government has pressed all its resources for the people by providing relief food packages and taking care of their urgent needs. We are taking care of the migrant labourers also and our relief works are continuing in every constituency where the administration, panchayats and elected representatives are working to deliver the essentials to the needy people, he said.
Indra Hang thanked the people of Sikkim for their cooperation to the State government.
The Lok Sabha MP also responded to the contention of SDF spokesperson M.K. Subba over lack of COVID-19 testing lab in Sikkim.
The SDF spokesperson had recently accused both the Sikkim MPs of not working actively at the Centre for setting up a COVID-19 testing lab in Sikkim and also remaining ‘inactive’ during the lockdown period.
To this, Indra Hang pointed out that the emergency situation is not only in Sikkim but the entire nation and world.
“He said, we (MPs) could not do lobby? I want to tell him clearly that we do not seek any opportunity taking in this emergency situation. We have to cooperate with the guidelines of the Centre,” said Indra Hang. He reminded that Chief Minister P.S. Golay had on March 23 written to the Centre for a testing lab and till it is set up, the samples from Sikkim be tested at North Bengal Medical College & Hospital, Siliguri on a priority basis.
Indra Hang mentioned that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had on April 5 issued an advisory mentioning that priority for setting up testing labs would be given to those districts where there are more than 100 cases of suspected COVID-19 patients. In this context, he said Sikkim is zero-infected.
“Hence, we must accept that we are in low in the priority list for setting up testing labs. We must also understand the compulsions of the Centre. The Centre is setting up labs in places where there are many cases of COVID-19 suspected cases. Even the common man can understand that testing labs are required more in the hotspot areas.”
Indra Hang maintained that the Sikkim government has been communicating with the Centre for the testing lab. Our government has faith and is cooperating with the Center in this emergency situation, he said.
To another question, the Parliamentarian said he and the elected representatives of the SKM government have been serving the people while also maintaining the safety protocols and social distancing.
“We are trying to be in touch with every individual and help them. Our Chief Minister and the State government have announced relief food packages for the needy families and we are working with the administration to ensure that there are no hardships for the people. The involvement may not be visible but we are helping the people. Our government is fully engaged in this,” said Indra Hang.
MINISTER WARNS OF LEGAL ACTION AGAINST DISCRIMINATION, MALPRACTICES IN RELIEF FOOD PACKAGE DISTRIBUTION
KUNAL RAI
GANGTOK: Food & Civil Supplies minister Arun Upreti has warned that strict legal action will be taken if any malpractice or discrimination is found in the distribution of government-issued food relief packages for the daily wage earners and underprivileged sections of the society.
Speaking with SIKKIM EXPRESS, the Food & Civil Supplies minister informed that the State government is working hard to procure the relief materials but facing some difficulties in maintaining the supply chain due to the large number of beneficiaries.
Around one lakh beneficiaries in the State have been identified for the food relief package which consists of rice, cooking oil, potatoes, onions and other essential commodities.
Complaints have been coming in social media regarding the distribution process, to which, the Food & Civil Supplies minister warned of strict action if any discrimination or cheating is found to have taken place. He said the priority will be given to the beneficiaries listed and issued by the respective district collectors. If some beneficiaries are left out, they will be covered in the second round, he said adding that the department is ensuring that relief food commodities are given to the people listed by the respective district administrations.
A senior official of the Food & Civil Supplies department said the list of beneficiaries for the food relief packages came from the respective district administrations and based on the requirement of items, the procurement process was done. He informed that though rice and salt quantities are enough to meet the requirements of the beneficiaries, the remaining quantity of dal and cooking oil supplies are under transit.
RELIEF AMOUNT OF RS. 2000 EACH TO REGISTERED CONSTRUCTION WORKERS IN SIKKIM
KUNAL RAI
GANGTOK: The Labour department has sanctioned a relief amount of Rs. 2000 each to the Building and other construction workers (B&OCW) here who are registered with the Labour department, government of Sikkim. The amount has been transferred in the bank accounts of the workers under Direct Benefit Transfer System (DBTS).
Speaking with SIKKIM EXPRESS, Labour principal secretary S.D. Negi informed that the department has provided the relief amount to the registered building and other construction workers. There are 7,836 building and other construction workers in Sikkim who are registered with the Labour department, Government of Sikkim.
The State government has sanctioned Rs. 1.56 crore for this purpose to help the construction workers during the lockdown period.
Regarding the operation of Pharma factories, the Labour secretary said there were some teething problems in the early days over the health safety of the workers in some factories. The problems have been resolved and all the pharma companies in Sikkim are operational based on the Union and State governments’ directives, he said. Pharma companies produce life-saving medicines and have been exempted from the lockdown, he added.
Negi said the pharma company workers are given an additional daily incentive of Rs. 300 during the lockdown period. The incentive is for those who report for duty and not for the absentees, he added.
We have directed the pharma companies to provide proper hygiene and health safety of the workers at the factories and the department is keeping a close watch on the companies, said the Labour secretary. He mentioned that department is in constant touch with the management and workers. We have installed complaint box in every factory where the workers can submit their grievances. We will take these complaints and resolve them on priority, he mentioned.
Negi shared that there are many persons from across the borders who are working in the companies here and are unable to report for duty due to the lockdown. The State government has directed the companies to provide regular salaries and other entitlements to the workers despite their absence on duty due to the ongoing lockdown, he said.
The Labour department has also distributed 10,000 face masks to the GMC workers, Nagar Panchayat workers and Traffic police personnel.sikkimexpress/from, india
