Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Thursday called upon the district administrations and the health department of the state to achieve 100% first dose coverage of the COVID-19 vaccine by mid-August ‘based on the headcount’.
Chairing the 6th e-Pragati virtual meeting with the district administrations from his office here, Khandu emphasized on headcount as the base for the vaccination drive rather than on electoral rolls or population census.
This, he said, will give the correct status of vaccination doses as a good chunk of the population of interior districts may have their names in electoral rolls of their respective districts but are settled in urban areas of other districts, where they might have got their jabs.
“For example if we go by electoral rolls as per guidelines, Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) has already vaccinated way above than 100% of its population. Similarly, in some districts like Kra-Dadi, they have vaccinated less than 50% of their population as per electoral rolls number,” he explained.
Khandu appreciated that most of the districts have completed headcount of their existing population and are on a drive to vaccinate them all. He urged the districts which are yet to do so to complete the headcount by July end.
Informing that there’s no shortage of vaccines, he requested the district administrations to reach out, convince and vaccinate all with at least the 1st dose by mid August.
Referring to the government’s efforts to economically empower Self Help Groups (SHGs) of the state through credit and market linkages, the Chief Minister said the role of deputy commissioners in the success of this endeavor is paramount.
“85% of our people belong to the rural populace. So to develop Arunachal Pradesh economically, empowering them is a must. Why not achieve this through our SHGs? It’s the best option and now banks are also coming forward to partner in offering credit linkages,” he observed.
Khandu also drew attention of the administrators towards the problem of drug abuse. He informed that recently the Cabinet had passed the Arunachal Pradesh Policy on Psychoactive Substances 2021-26 to curb the menace and called for sincere and proactive role from the district administrations.
“Drug abuse is dangerous than terrorism. Therefore our focus should be on a long term fight to root it out completely,” he stressed.
During the course of the meeting several major issues were raised, discussed and actions sought. These include petroleum and hydrocarbon extraction and exploration, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System, CAMPA, construction of road to Tali, multi-storey parking in civil secretariat and elsewhere in the state capital, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (both rural and urban), implementation of MGNREGA, etc.
The meeting was also attended by education minister Taba Tedir and health minister Alo Libang besides the chief secretary, commissioners and secretaries.
Also read | Arunachal districts with high COVID-19 positivity rate asked to take additional measures
Meanwhile, the chief minister also launched two important web portals, one of the education department and the other a State Control Room to transparently manage the Covid-19 status. Both the portals have been designed in-house by the department of Information Technology.
The web portal of the education department – http://education.arunachal.gov.in/ – is equipped with features like grievance cell to enable online solutions, feedback and monitor teachers performance. One unique feature here is the ‘Know Your Teacher’ link that enables any visitor to get details of any teacher serving in any of the government schools in the state.
The State Control Room website – http://statecontrolroom.arunachal.gov.in/- hosts a dynamic Covid-19 analytical dashboard.
This integrated web portal will help design better responses and evolve best strategies in the fight against Covid-19. Also this dashboard can be used for any emergency situation.
