Coronavirus: Meghalaya Border with Assam Sealed Off as Per MHA Guidelines

Shillong, April 1, 2020:

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma, upon being asked about the positive cases of the new coronavirus (or COVID-19) in the State, confirmed that as per MHA guidelines the inter-state and interdistrict movement has been restricted.

At a presser held here today, Sangma said that all Deputy Commissioners in the State has been empowered to release the funds of Rs. 25 lakhs from the MLA scheme 2020-21 to the concerned legislators.

He informed that the MLAs have to submit detailed list of essential commodities to be distributed to the beneficiaries and avail the funds, which will be sanctioned from the Deputy Commissioner’s Office on immediate basis.

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He informed the media that MLAs and MDCs have been requested to work in coordination with the District Administration in ensuring that essential commodities are made available. He said that during this time of crisis the public representatives, social organisations and volunteers have to come together to aid the government.

Sangma informed that government has been engaging with MLAs of different districts to solicit their views and suggestions which will enable the government to streamline the delivery mechanism. He informed that cabinet ministers incharge of different regions of the State, which is divided in three Khasi, Jaintia and Garo Hills are continuously working at the regional level to ensure that all essential commodities were made available and they were making effort to address the concerns raised by the administrations of the different regions.

"A system for coordinated efforts between the grassroots, the administration and the government has been put in place and we are working to ensure that all necessary measures were taken, which is in the interest and welfare of the public,” said the Chief Minister.

Sangma said that the effort of the government to deal with this crisis with every possible measures was to ensure that there is improvement in the overall coordination of the different efforts that the government has initiated.

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"There are issues and concerns which are very challenging but we will try our best to to address those concerns. We have received positive suggestions from public representatives. The cooperation extended by the public representatives are very supportive and have united representatives from across parties,” he said.

The Chief Minister further informed that there are grievances from different parts of the State and the government has been working overtime to redress the issues: This is an unprecedented situation and the administration under the leadership of Chief Secretary has been working tirelessly to address public concerns,” the Chief Minister added.

Coronavirus Update:

876,884 cases of the coronavirus have been detected thus far across the world and 43,535 of the patients have died. In India, there have been 1,637 infections from the coronavirus, and 45 have died from complications due to the virus.

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