The Assam government on Monday transferred a sum of Rs 2,000 each as financial relief to 86,000 people from the state stranded across the country due to the ongoing lockdown.
“We were able to reach 4.3 lakh people from the state stranded across India due to the lockdown. Today we extended a one-time ex gratia amount of Rs 2,000 to 86,000 of them. Another installment will be considered during the ongoing lockdown,” Assam health and finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said.
The Assam government has already provided Rs 25,000 each to 647 patients from the states who went outside for treatment and are stranded now. A sum of 2,000 USD has also been given to those from Assam who went abroad for short stints and are stranded.
In order to provide relief to those stranded in other states, Assam had started a helpline and those in need were asked to give a missed call. Those who called were sent a web link and asked to fill up a form giving their details and bank account information.
Those details were then sent to the districts to where the applicants belong in order to verify their claims. A total of 4.3 lakh unique calls were received by the government of which 2.28 lakh filled the forms and out of that 1 lakh bank accounts were found to be eligible.
{{/usCountry}}Those details were then sent to the districts to where the applicants belong in order to verify their claims. A total of 4.3 lakh unique calls were received by the government of which 2.28 lakh filled the forms and out of that 1 lakh bank accounts were found to be eligible.
{{/usCountry}}The process also enabled the state government to get an idea of the number of people from the state who are outside the state for employment. Karnataka with 68,000 has the highest number of people from Assam followed by Tamil Nadu with 36,000 and Kerala with 34,000.
“This data along with details of their family members will be helpful when these people plan to return to Assam. We will be to monitor their movement and keep track of their health,” Sarma said while addressing a press conference.
The minister informed that the state has got 9,600 rapid test kits from the Centre. The Assam government is attempting to procure more of those kits from China. Earlier the state had procured 50,000 PPE kits from China.
“As of now we have to wait for 6 hours to get results of tests, but now we will be able to know about a person’s status through the rapid tests within 15 minutes. From Wednesday we will conduct rapid tests in our government hospitals,” Sarma said.