हिंदी
Kangra, August 14
The state government has strongly condemned the statement of Leader of Opposition Mukesh Agnihotri in which he has alleged that the government is responsible for spread of COVID-19 in the state.
A Spokesperson of the state government said here today that this is the preposterous statement by the Leader of the Opposition as the Congress party has nothing to say against the government and therefore are resorting to malicious propaganda. He said it seems Mukesh Agnihotri is baffled over the popularity of Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and the performance of the state government during last two and a half years and in utter desperation, he is making such baseless accusations.
He said that Mukesh Agnihotri should remember that the Himachal Pradesh is amongst those few states who have tackled this pandemic most effectively and even Prime Minister has appreciated the steps taken by the state to contain spread of this virus. As far as the Kangra tour of the Chief Minister is concerned the norms were followed.
He said from the beginning of the lockdown period on 24 March, 2020 the state government took all effective steps and made elaborate arrangements for testing centres and quarantine facilities. Moreover, dedicated hospitals were also identified to treat the patients. He added that special campaign was also launched to sensitize the people about the COVID-19 and maintaining proper social distancing. It was due to these efforts that the recovery rate of the COVID-19 patients in Himachal Pradesh was best in the country.
The Spokesperson said that although Himachal was about to become COVID-19 free state but due to return of over 2.15 lakh people including students stranded in various states of the country, there was abrupt rise in the cases of Corona cases . However, it was the responsibility of the government to bring back its own people who were is distress away from their homes.
So far, 3836 cases have been registered in the state out of which 2449 have been cured, 34 left the state and only 17 deaths have been reported. The percentage of Himachal Pradesh in the number of cases in India is 0.15 (3836/2461190) while the state has a population ratio of 0.6 percent. Out of total COVID- 19 positive cases in the state, 94.6 per cent of the cases were found asymptomatic, whereas only 5.4 percent cases have been found with COVID-19 symptoms.
He said that eight RT-PCR, two CB-NAAT and 19 TRU-NAAT centres are functional in the state for conducting COVID-19 tests. RT-PCR testing facility is available at IGMC Shimla, CRI Kasauli, SLBSGMC Ner Chowk, Dr. RKGMC Hamirpur, Pt. JLNGMC Chamba, Dr. YSPGMC Nahan, IHBT Palampur and Dr. RPGMC Tanda.
He said that the COVID-19 cases per Lakh in the country are 181.96 whereas it is 54.8 in Himachal Pradesh. The death rate in country is 1.95 while it is 0.44 in the state.
The Spokesperson said that the total number of COVID-19 cases in Punjab were 26909 where 675 deaths have been reported. In Haryana total number of cases were 44817 and the 511 deaths have been reported. In Uttrakhand total number of cases were 11302 and deaths were 143, in Jammu and Kashmir the total number of cases were 26949 and deaths were 509. Whereas in Himachal Pradesh the total number of coronavirus cases were reported as 3836 and the deaths were only 17, which is very less in comparison to our neighbouring states.
He said that the state government has given directions to develop a mechanism of home isolation for Asymptomatic/mild symptoms of COVID-19 patients. Apart from it Deputy Commissioners have been given access of Portal for All India Level certified tests reports of COVID-19 tourists visiting Himachal Pradesh. The directions have been given to conduct Rapid Antigen Test of laborers working in industrial units of state.
He said that Mukesh Agnihotri has questioned the government over the issues like law and order situation, financial crisis and land mafia in the state which is ridiculous because it was in the Congress government’s regime that law and order situation had gone worst. The poor financial management, unplanned and wasteful expenditure by the previous government resulted in un-mindful borrowings. The Congress burdened the state with a loan of over Rs. 46,500 crore. He said that land mafia, mining mafia, forest mafia and drug mafia were active during previous government’s regime. The incidents like ‘Hoshiyar Singh’ and ‘Gudiya’ were shocking which tarnished the image of the State, which is known for peace and tranquillity.
