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Assam’s new cabinet decides against total lockdown to tackle Covid-19
At present, all offices, shops and business establishments in Assam are shut down at 2:00 pm and a night curfew is imposed from 6:00 pm to 5:00 am.
Assam’s new cabinet on Tuesday decided against imposing total lockdown in the state for now while revising the existing measures to control the rising number of Covid-19 cases. It also tasked ministers to monitor the situation in districts. In other important decisions, committees were set up to create 100,000 government jobs and waive off micro finance loans taken by women groups.
Newly appointed health minister Keshab Mahanta said Covid-19 scenario in the state was discussed threadbare in the meeting and details of the fresh pandemic containment guidelines will be released on Wednesday.
“No decision has been taken on imposing total lockdown. Details of the new guidelines will be announced by the chief secretary and the DGP [director general of police] on Wednesday. The new measures will come into effect from Thursday,” he said.
At present, all offices, shops and business establishments in Assam are shut down at 2:00pm and a night curfew is imposed from 6:00pm to 5:00am. Mahanta said if the new guidelines have to be extended beyond 15 days, the cabinet will decide on an economic package to mitigate losses.
“The cabinet decided to allot 2-3 districts to each minister who will extensively tour these places, discuss the Covid-19 situation there and submit a status report in three days,” Mahanta said.
On Tuesday, Assam recorded 6,258 new positive cases and 85 deaths—highest ever daily figures in both categories. The state has nearly 40,000 active Covid-19 cases.
In other decisions, Mahanta said a committee has been constituted under finance minister Ajanta Neog to fulfil the promise of creating 100,000 government jobs. The committee will submit its report within a month.
Another committee has been constituted under chairmanship of urban development minister Ashok Singhal on ways to waive-off microfinance loans taken by women/women groups. It will also submit its report in a month, he added.
Industries minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said the government has also decided to increase its stake in Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL) from 12.35% to 26% by investing a sum of ₹2,187 crore.
“This will be the biggest such investment till date. We had earlier invested ₹90.80 crore for 12.35% stake and got nearly ₹1,200 crore in dividends. With the fresh investment, the state is expected to earn around ₹900 crore annually. We have already invested ₹500 crore of the proposed ₹2187 crore,” said Patowary.
