DoNER Ministry Assures Rs 25 Cr to NE States for Gap Funding to Fight COVID-19

New Delhi, March 27, 2020:

In order to effectively counter the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus or COVID-19 in the Northeast Indian States, the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) has announced a sum of Rs 25 crores for gap funding.

This fund would be in the nature of untied fund, which can be utilized on any activity relating to COVID-19 pandemic, and not covered under existing central packages. The flexibility of untied funds would enable the states to respond quickly. This fund would be in addition to the funds otherwise allocated by the Ministry of DoNER/NEC to the North Eastern States under the existing schemes.

It is to be mentioned here that the Union Minister of State (I/C) of the DoNER Ministry, Dr Jitendra Singh, held a detailed review meeting by video conference, while adhering to all the guidelines of social distancing, with the officers of Ministry of DoNER and North Eastern Council (NEC). There was an extensive discussion in view of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic and measures which are being taken to fight the same in the Northeast Indian region.

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The meeting was attended by the Secretary Ministry of DoNER and other senior officers of MDoNER and NEC.  At the outset, Singh was informed that all the work of the Ministry was on e-Office, making it easier to comply with the directions of government to work from home mode.

In a bid to held the Northeast tackle the threat, the Minister stated that designated cargo flights for carrying essential commodities to Northeast have been planned.

It is pertinent that the Northeast Indian region has recorded two confirmed cases so far: one in Manipur and another in Mizoram.

The Manipur victim is a 23-year-old woman who has been admitted at the  Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS).

The girl, who recently returned to the state from London in the UK, tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday morning, making her the first confirmed case of coronavirus in the state and northeast India.

Moreover, following the reports of the confirmed case of COVID-19, the state government is now making all efforts to trace down her contacts and the co-passengers to prevent further spread of the deadly coronavirus. The girl along with her brother, who had also returned from Atlanta, US, had arrived at the Bir Tikendrajit International Airport in Imphal on March 21 on an AirAsia flight. Altogether, there were 160 passengers on the flight from Kolkata to Imphal via Agartala, as per reports.

The Mizoram victim, a 50 year old man, left from Amsterdam on March 15, 2020. On the way, he had made stops at Doha, New Delhi, and Guwahati. He entered Mizoram through Lengpui Airport on March 16, 2020. It has been reported that before his departure from Amsterdam, the COVID patient called up Health officials in Aizawl who had sent him the quarantine guidelines put up by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. The patient said that he strictly followed the guidelines given by authorities.

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