SHILLONG: The state government on Monday decided to extend financial help to daily wage earners, labourers or petty traders who have lost their livelihood due to the ongoing nationwide lockdown.
The Cabinet took a slew of decisions (See box) in an effort to scale down the lockdown in the state from April 15. The 21-day lockdown, which was imposed to stem the spread of coronavirus, will end on April 14.
Speaking to media persons after the Cabinet meeting, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that the government would provide Rs 700 per week to the daily wage earners, labourers or petty traders under the Chief Minister’s Relief Against Wage Loss Scheme. “The amount will be directly credited to the bank accounts of the eligible beneficiaries under the scheme”, he said.
He said that the process was on to identify the beneficiaries. “We have set a deadline of April 8 to prepare the list of beneficiaries. Funds under this scheme have already been made available to the concerned department”, he said.
However, there are certain groups of people who are not eligible to be covered under the scheme. They include beneficiaries registered under Building and Other Construction Workers, job card holders under MGNREGA, muster rolls workers of government departments, casual and contractual wage workers in the government and semi-government departments and farmers registered under PM-KISAN.
While government offices would resume functioning with full staff from April 15, no decision has been taken on the private sector. “The government will sit shortly and take a call on the matter”, Tynsong said.
He also said that Iewduh and Police Bazar would remain closed for the time being.
The Cabinet also discussed about the fate of 2192 citizens of the state, including students and working class, staying in different parts of the country and decided to request them to refrain from travelling back home until the end of April for the sake of safety of the people of the state and their own.
“Most of them had expressed their desire to come back to the state. Taking into account the safety of people in the state and the safety of the stranded citizens themselves, the Cabinet after a thorough discussion has decided to request them to stay away until the end of April 2020”, Tynsong said.
He said that it was due to the collective effort of each and every citizen of the state up to village level that Meghalaya is safe till date from COVID-19.
He also urged landlords to be accommodative and generous with their tenants in this time of crisis.
TOWARD NORMALCY
q Schools and educational institutions will remain closed till April 30; to be reviewed depending on the prevailing situation in the country
q Govt offices to work with full staff from April 15
q Farmers can resume sowing activities with immediate effect; protocols as prescribed by the Health department to be strictly maintained
q MGNREGA activities for which wages and material components to the tune of Rs 534.6573 crore has been sanctioned and released to the respective Block Development Offices for payment of wages and bills
q Construction works (road construction, etc) and other allied developmental programmes sanctioned in the last financial year allowed to restart from April 15; only those migrant workers who have already passed 14 days in the state would be allowed to continue to work
q Weekly markets in rural areas to be reopened from April 15; protocols to be strictly followed
q Private transportation, including inter-district movement, allowed to resume from April 15; inter-state movement to remain restricted