Haryana issues directions for maintenance of essential services during lockdown

Chandigarh (Haryana) [India], Mar 25 (ANI): Haryana Chief Secretary Keshni Anand Arora on Wednesday directed all the Divisional and Deputy Commissioners to ensure that there is no problem in movement of essential commodities during the complete lockdown in the state for 21 days and a mechanism should be prepared for the supply of essential commodities to every house in the state by today evening.
She further said that all the on-duty policemen while ensuring social distancing, should also ensure that people going to purchase essential commodities should be allowed to go after thorough checking.
The Chief Secretary gave these directions while presiding over the meeting with all the Divisional and Deputy Commissioners through video conferencing here today.
The Chief Secretary said that in the event of lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for 21 days in the whole country, the biggest challenge is how to provide essential commodities to the people at their doorstep.
She said that people should not leave the house at all and this will only be possible when the people will get the delivery of daily needs at their doorstep. For this, all the Divisional and Deputy Commissioners will upload the list of vegetables, milk and grocery vendors along with their contact numbers on their websites according to the area or ward in their respective districts.
The Chief Secretary further directed that all the Deputy Commissioners should remain in contact with the traders, wholesalers, and retailers of their respective districts and ensure availability of stock of all types of essential commodities.
She said that grocery and medicine shops should be kept open and no fixed timeline should be set for them. She said that if these shops will be open for the fixed time, then people will gather in large numbers, so to prevent such a situation, these shops should be kept open for as long as possible and these shops should be opened at the night also so that people rather than gathering at one time should be able to buy these essential items easily.
The Chief Secretary also directed that the vegetable producers should be allowed to come to the Mandis and while returning they should be given a pass or letter so that the policemen do not stop the empty vehicle. Apart from this, the vehicles engaged in the movement of essential commodities should have a sticker of "Essential Commodities Services", so that policemen do not stop these vehicles repeatedly at the checkpoints and the supply chain continues.
The Chief Secretary said that during this crisis, food, and fodder for humans, as well as animals and birds, also fall in the category of important and essential items. Therefore, the movement of food and fodder for animals and birds should remain constant and for this, special directions should also be given by the Home Department to the policemen so that they do not stop the vehicles supplying these items.
She further said that the smooth transportation of raw material coming from the neighbouring states for the necessary goods or manufacturing units is ensured and for this, the State Police should coordinate with the neighbouring States and special direction should be issued to the policemen deployed on the Inter-State border.
She directed that the homeless and daily wagers should ensure to get ration and if necessary, make the arrangements for delivering the cooked food at their doorstep. She said that if necessary, stock of flour, rice, oil, etc. should also, be arranged in collaboration with HAFED at Vita booths. She further directed the officers to ensure the availability and supply of medicines such as diabetes, blood pressure, and heart ailments so that people suffering from such conditions do not get nervous or panic.
The Chief Secretary directed that PPE kits for medical, paramedical staff should be prepared in the medical colleges according to the technical specifications prescribed by PGI. She also directed that hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine medicines should be discontinued without a doctor's prescription. (ANI)