E-Paper
Keen to restart economy, HP cabinet to meet on April 18
During the lockdown, the CM has been in constant touch with the administration of the 12 districts over the phone to review the situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
For the first time after the lockdown was imposed to combat coronavirus crisis, chief minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday decided to hold a cabinet meeting in Himachal Pradesh Secretariat on Saturday to discuss ways to restart economic activities in the state.
During the lockdown, the CM has been in constant touch with the administration of the 12 districts over the phone to review the situation amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Thakur had earlier held a cabinet meeting through video conferencing on April 7 which was attended by social justice minister Sarveen Chaudhary, agriculture minister Ram Lal Markanday and education minister Suresh Bhardwaj at Oakover which is the official residence of the CM.
The rooms in Sectereriatte are being sanitised regularly. The cabinet will meet in the committee room on April 18.
Meanwhile, CM on Friday held a video conferencing with the deputy commissioners, SPs and chief medical officers of the state in the wake of coronavirus. Thakur directed them that persons entering the state with a permit should be tested with rapid diagnostic kits at the entry point of the borders.
He said that a person found Covid-19 positive should be shifted to quarantine centres and would not be allowed to enter the state. He said that only those tested negative should be allowed to enter the borders and strict vigil should be kept on such persons during their home quarantine.
CM asked the officers to increase the sampling of persons in high-risk areas so that situation could be normalised at the earliest. He said that Covid-19 hotspots would be sealed and there would be no relaxation in these areas.
Thakur said that interdistrict and intradistrict movement must be restricted to minimise the risk of infection.
He said a mechanism should be put in place where donors could come forward to donate blood so that there was no shortage of blood in the hospitals. He said that it must be ensured that proper screening of donors was done before blood donation.
