Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot has assured people in the state they will not face any problem during the unprecedented 21-day complete lockdown across the country announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to fight Covid-19.
The chief minister, in a series of tweets, said he supported the Prime Minister’s lockdown decision and called for people to fight and defeat the coronavirus pandemic.
“No prohibition on opening of shops selling essential commodities and no time limit had been fixed for these. Supply chain would remain smooth with opening of shops and there would be no crowd while buying items of daily use, which is the main objective of the lockdown (sic),” Ashok Gehlot tweeted.
“During the #21daylockdown due to #CoronaPandemic, our foremost priority would be to ensure nobody goes hungry in #Rajasthan. We will do everything possible so that all poor, deprived & daily wagers get food and rations,” he said.
The chief minister said stores should use vans for home delivery of necessary items so that people do not have to go to market frequently.
“#Coronavirus can be kept at bay only through #Social_Distancing. The objective of lockdown is that people stay in their houses. Supply of essential services should be smooth during the #lockdown,” he said.
Gehlot stressed the responsibility for the effective implementation of the three-week lockdown is on the police and district administration.
“The District Collectors and the Superintendents of Police should ensure that the directions given for lockdown are completely followed, otherwise we will have to impose curfew in the state,” he said.
“The common man should not face any kind of problem for the important works. For this, the system of issuing permit should be made online, for which Mobile Application or Email Id could be used,” he said in another tweet.
The chief minister said district collectors should ensure that the poor, street vendors, rickshaw-pullers, labourers and other such people get food and rations. “For this, the Collectors should take help of voluntary organisations, philanthropists and others.”
Gehlot also appealed to leaders of all political parties to ensure that food, ration and other essential commodities reach the poor, destitute and helpless people during this lockdown.
Gehlot, during a meeting at his residence on Tuesday evening, urged NGOs, civil society organisations, patwari, gram sevaks, block development officers (BDOs), sub-divisional officer (SDOs) and beat constables to ensure people living in slums and those who collect rags or are destitute get food and ration.
“The MPs and MLAs should use their local development fund for this,” he said.
He said a state-level war room has been set up in Jaipur and more will come in all districts to be manned by senior officials to “to solve problems of people immediately and with sensitivity” around the clock.
No new case of Covid-19 was reported Rajasthan on Tuesday with 32 coronavirus disease patients across the state in hospitals.
The number of Covid-19 patients went up to 562 in India on Wednesday morning as at least 10 people were killed by the respiratory disease.
