VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday directed officials to strictly implement all the guidelines keeping in view the surge in coronavirus positive cases in the last few days.
Taking stock of the situation at a review meeting at his camp-office, the Chief Minister enquired about the status of the door-to-door survey underway in the State to identify foreign returnees and those who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat at Nizamuddin in New Delhi.
Briefing the Chief Minister, the officials informed him that 140 of the total 164 coronavirus positive cases in the State had direct or indirect links to the Tablighi Jamaat.
According to them, 1085 people from the State attended the Jamaat conference. Of them, 946 are currently residing in the State.
All of them have been identified and their samples taken for testing. Results are available for 881 and of them, 108 tested positive.
Test results of 65 others are awaited. Explaining to the Chief Minister about contact tracing, they informed that till date, 626 contacts of the Jamaat returnees had been identified and tested. Of them, 32 tested positive while results of 335 are awaited.
As for the door-to-door survey, the officials said ANMs, Asha workers and volunteers have compelted surveying 1.28 crore households of the 1.45 crore in the State. Those who have exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 will be observed in the second phase and tests will be conducted accordingly. The officials said that two new testing centers are now functional in Guntur and Kadapa. Besides, another testing center in Visakhapatnam would be functional from Monday. Currently, the testing labs have the capacity to conduct 700 tests per day and that will be increased to 900 after coordinating with private testing labs. One private lab in Vijayawada is likely to start operations next week.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to chalk out and follow a strategic plan based on police, medical and survey data. Stressing the importance of ensuring social distancing in public places, he instructed them to ensure social distancing at any cost at rythu bazaars, shops, and supermarkets. The price list should be displayed at every shop and strict action taken against those who sell the products at prices higher than the fixed price.
Regarding the camps set up at various places across the state for migrant workers, the Chief Minister ordered the officials that there should be no issues in accommodating migrant workers stranded at various places due to the lockdown. For the same, the officials said about 78,000 people were stranded in the various camps at their working places. The government-run 236 camps are providing accommodation to 16,000 members and a social welfare department officer is appointed to monitor the situation at these camps. The remaining 62,000 are being accommodated through various NGOs, companies and other sources.
The Chief Minister also asked the officials to appoint an officer and send him to places where Telugu people are stranded outside the state such as Mumbai, Gir, Varanasi, Goa, Ajmer, and Tamil Nadu.
As announced earlier, the Chief Minister emphasised that there should be no issues in handing over Rs 1000 financial assistance to the poor. The Chief Minister sought details on policing during the lockdown and conceded that there is work pressure on the department but stressed that it was necessary to respect people and counsel them in a proper manner. Referring to the suicide of a young man in Bapatla due to alleged humiliation by police, he directed the DGP to ensure a thorough enquiry.
With regard to agriculture produce that cannot be stored, the officials said the government is purchasing tomatoes in the Madanapalle market and supplying them the to rythu bazaars that resulted in an increase of 1 kg tomato from Rs 4 to Rs 8 due to high demand. Moreover, steps are being taken to purchase bananas at villages and towns to make the fruit available in small markets. The Chief Minister also sought details on exports of Aqua products and the officials informed him that 803.4 metric tonnes of products were exported on April 2 and about 1530 metric tonnes will be exported in another two-three days through Kakinada, Vizag, and Krishnapatnam ports.
Moreover, the Chief Minister instructed the officials to concentrate on agriculture, civil supplies, and marketing departments and ensure that farmers do not face any problems. For the same, he further ordered Ministers Kannababu, Mopidevi, Kodali Nani, and task force officials to ensure that there is no shortage of food supplies. Ministers Alla Nani, Mopidevi Venkataramana, Botsa Satyanarayana, CS Nilam Sawhney, DGP Gautam Sawang, Special Chief Secretary to the Ministry of Health Jawahar Reddy and other officials were among those present at the meeting.