India lockdown: Haryana postpones crop procurement after April 14

“In case they are not able to do that, we have issued instructions to the Marketing Board for assisting the government for creation of such facilities. We have also sought an incentive scheme for farmers from Government of India. State government shall also be formulating some incentives, soon. Payments of debts by farmers shall also be allowed till a later date,” he added.

Khattar also announced the launch of a website – covidssharyana.in – for the registration of shopkeepers dealing in essential commodities. “Grocery and chemist shop owners can register themselves on this website. There shall be two links on this website. One, grocery, milk, essentials, and chemist shop registration and another link shall be for volunteers. People can call up these registered vendors and volunteers shall be engaged by district administration to supply essential items at people’s doorsteps,” he said.

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“33,000 volunteers have registered themselves to help district administration. These include doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, public communication, district management supporters,” he added.

Haryana Agriculture Minister J P Dalal also said, “Farmers’ vehicles used for harvesting crops shall not be stopped on roads by the police.”

Here are the other announcements made by the chief minister in his address:

– e-Passes – All volunteers and government officers shall be issued passes. A facility of e-Pass shall be launched today. Be it people involved in supply chains of essential commodities or district administrations officials or volunteers. Everybody should carry such e-Passes and produce it to the police, whenever asked for while moving out on roads. Everybody must follow police’s instructions in the interest of everybody’s safety and security.

– Ex-gratia increased to Rs 50 lakh for doctors treating COVID-19 patients and for government employees who are working in the forefront to combat COVID-19 and helping all of us ensuring our security. I appeal to the people that all such people and their families must be fully supported by the people of the state. I had earlier announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh for such people. But, we have today revised it to Rs 50 lakh for doctors, Rs 30 lakh for nurses and Rs 20 lakh for other employees who are working in hospital wards, testing laboratories and are engaged in treatment of COVID-19 patients/suspects.

– Five testing laboratories are functional in Haryana. Two more laboratories shall start functioning soon. Their capacity, if required, shall also be increased subsequently. Isolation beds – 2,500 already prepared and 6,000 quarantine beds have been kept ready.

– For poor, small time workers, daily wagers, the Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana is already functional. 12.56 lakh families are registered under this scheme. We have started sending Rs 4,000 to their bank accounts. 2.76 lakh families have already got this money that is approximately Rs 84.46 crore. Other than this, 3.84 lakh construction workers shall also soon be getting Rs 1000 per week. BPL families will also be soon getting this amount of Rs 1000 per week.

– A Corona Relief Fund has been created by Haryana government. Many people are voluntarily donating to this fund. Till date, more than 2,000 people have donated and a total of Rs 5.84 crore has already been collected till date.

– Bill payments online: If done by e-payments, it shall be given rebate of Rs 20-100 per bill. People should indulge in online payments of their bills.

– Helpline numbers: People, if facing any difficulty or want to give any suggestion, can dial two helpline numbers – 1075 or 1100. Both the numbers shall remain functional 24×7.

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