Customise 500 RTC Buses For Supply Of Essentials, Orders AP CM YS Jagan

AMARAVATI: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday directed the state officials to consider every village secretariat as a single unit. He also advised them to set up a quarantine centre in the Secretariat which can accommodate 10 to 15 COVID-19 patients. The Chief Minister ordered the officials to restrict the movement of public in containment clusters and allow only one person in family to come out for essentials by using a pass provided to them.

The chief minister held a review meeting at his Camp office in Tadepalli over the anti-COVID-19 initiatives being implemented by the state government. Officials briefed YS Jagan about the plan of action in arranging quarantine and other affiliated facilities to those who will be returning to state from other states and countries.

Deputy Chief Minister Alla Nani, Agriculture Minister Kurasala Kannababu, CS Neelam Sahni, DGP Gautam Sawang and Special Chief Secretary of Health Jawahar Reddy attended this review meeting.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy advised the officials to ready one lakh beds for COVID-19 patients. Anganwadi, MEPMA workers and Panchayati Raj employees should take part in helping the staff in setting up the quarantine centres across the state, he said.

He ordered officials to convert 500 RTC buses into goods carriers to transport essential commodities. The CM suggested to officials to also make use of these buses as freezers and storage units which can preserve milk, eggs, fruits and other perishable essentials.

The chief minister has instructed the officials to regularly identify containment zones across the state and to formulate procedures which need to be followed as per the instructions of Union Home Ministry. YS Jagan said that SOPs should be issued to all the stores owners, who are granted permission to operate across the state.

As the AP CM shifted his focus to the COVID-19 testing process in the state, officials briefed him that the state has conducted a total of 1,08,403 COVID-19 tests until Saturday morning.  About 7,902 samples were tested in the past 24 hours. Officials told CM that on an average, AP has carried out 2,030 tests per million population which is one of the highest in India.

Officials added that the number of positive cases which were reported in the state was only 1.41 per cent out of the total tested COVID-19 cases which is significantly less than the country's average of 3.87 per cent.

They apprised the Chief Minister about the arrangements being made for readying Rythu Bharosa Centres well within the scheduled date of May 30.  YS Jagan also instructed the officials to focus on market intelligence system.

Officials told YS Jagan that they had made necessary arrangements for disbursing financial assistance to state's fishermen under YSR Matsyakara Bharosa scheme on June 6. They have also said that a detailed list of the beneficiaries will be made available in all village secretariats. This is to facilitate inclusion of additional names if they were found missing from the original list.

Chief Minister YS Jagan has also enquired with the officials on the procurement of farm produce from the farmers by providing Minimum Support Price (MSP). The Chief Minister advised officials to set up agricultural advisory boards at all the state, district and zonal levels.

Also Read: Naveen Patnaik Hails YS Jagan For AP’s Timely Support To Stranded Odisha Workers