Industrial activities in Uttarakhand started under Centre's lockdown guidelines, says minister

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 10 (ANI): Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Madan Kaushik on Sunday said that industrial activities have been started in the state under the Centre's lockdown guidelines.
"Industrial activities have been started in the state under the guidelines of the central government. 4,747 industries have been given permission to operate. 1.75 lakh workers will be employed. Many of these units have started work. Mining has also been started considering the need for construction works," Kaushik said in a press conference.
The minister said that more than 8,000 works of MNREGA have started and over 93,000 workers got work.
"New registrations have also been done in MNREGA. Work has also been provided to new people joining MNREGA. In the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, 307 works have been allowed from the districts. It will employ 16,600 personnel and workers," he said.
He informed that there are only 21 active COVID-19 in the state and the recovery rate is 68.66 per cent.
"Only 0.76 per cent of the total samples taken in the state have been found positive. We started four testing labs. We did not have a corona infection testing facility in March. In the state, at present, a total of 251 ICUs, 113 ventilators and 33 BIPAP machines have been installed," the minister said.
Kaushik said that 23,794 migrants were brought back from other states by May 8.
"By this evening, this number will be 30,000. 1,79,615 migrants have registered to come to Uttarakhand from other states. These people are being screened," he said.
The minister said that 21,717 people from other states stranded in Uttarakhand have registered to go back to their states, out of which 6378 have already been sent.
"There have been talks with the Ministry of Railways and the concerned state governments about the trains to bring migrants from Ahmedabad, Surat, Pune as well as Kerala. The expenditure burden will be borne by the Government of Uttarakhand. The state government has also deposited an advance of Rs 50 lakh to the Ministry of Railways," he said.
He said that Rs 85 crore has been released from the SDRF fund to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
The minister said that the Department of Medical Education has been allocated Rs 10 crores from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund with the aim of strengthening and enhancing the capacity of identified state medical colleges to combat the deadly virus.
He said that arrangement has been made to provide Rs 10 lakh from the Chief Minister's Fund to the family members in the event of loss of life of corona warriors.
He said that about 13.49 lakh ration card holders are being provided rice at the rate of Rs 3 per kilogram and wheat at Rs 2 per kilogram.
"Under the State Food Scheme, for the 10.28 lakh families, the State Government has increased the distribution scale per card for three months (April-May June 2020) to 20 kg of food grains (10 kg wheat and 10 kg rice) per card. Under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana, 5 kg of rice per person per month is being distributed to 13.49 lakh families free for three months," the minister said.
The minister said that Rs 1,000 in two instalments have been given to workers associated with the construction works.
"Rs 1,000 in two installments, a total of two thousand rupees has been transferred to the accounts of workers associated with the construction works. About 1.98 lakh people have benefited from this," he said. (ANI)