SHILLONG: Chief Minister Conrad Sangma said that he would undertake ‘www’ (walk to work) every Wednesday and appealed to the people of the state to take the ‘healthy step’ with an aim to achieve a ‘fit Meghalaya’.
He attended the Fit India Movement at Yojana Bhavan on Thursday. Making a beginning of the movement in the state, the CM walked from his official residence at Polo till his office in the State Secretariat.
“I pledge to walk to office every Wednesday. I cannot make it mandatory but it is an appeal for other people to make it a habit to walk to work,” he said.
In view of the growing concern on global warming, the CM said that people could cut down on the toxic carbon dioxide emissions by walking to work and also save money by cutting down on fuel expenditure besides reducing congestion on Shillong roads.
He suggested that people can take short cuts to their office or schools and made a clarion call to the people to take up the challenge of walking instead of driving to work.
Sangma said many of the youths were physically active but the problem lied in people’s daily life where they apparently forget about staying healthy.
“This programme is to remind that we should give a certain period of time in our daily life to physical exercises,” he said.
Interestingly, while the CM was walking to the Secretariat from his official residence on Thursday yet none of his Cabinet Ministers was around.
Improvement in the Health department
The CM informed that Meghalaya health department was tying up with Vedanta Hospital, Coal India Limited for achieving a ‘TB-free Meghalaya’.
He informed that spade work had been done and that four ambulances had been provided by Coal India Limited. He said Vedanta Hospital, which is known for its work on eradication of TB, would tie up with Meghalaya for the same.
He said the state was taking a number of steps to ensure that health indicators improved in the next two years especially in respect of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR), Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and better nutrition of children below 5 years of age is guaranteed.
Stating that there is challenges in the infrastructure and financial fronts, Sangma said even with the current resources the state could achieve 30-50 per cent improvement in the health indicators.