TURA: Agatha K Sangma, MP, on Friday held a meeting with district officials, community leaders and members of the Church to plan and discuss necessary steps to be taken post COVID-19 lockdown at the District Auditorium here..
The meeting was attended by Sella MLA, F C A Sangma, West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh, TMB Chairman J D Sangma, Superintendent of Poice, Dr M G R Kumar, members of development committees and other citizens.
Speaking during the meeting, Agatha Sangma expressed her appreciation to the District Administration and all others involved in handling the situation so far in the district for the containment of the disease, adding that it is the responsibility of everyone to cooperate for the containment and prevention of the spread of the disease in the district.
She said that the meeting was very important since there is a need to plan and formulate what steps to take post lockdown as the disease was not going to end and necessary advisories still needed to be followed even though the lockdown may be lifted in coming days.
Mentioning about the IEC activities of the district, she said that even though it wasbeing done widely, the concerned authorities need to sensitize the people aggressively about hand hygiene, wearing of mask, social distancing among others since various activities are likely to resume once lockdown is lifted.
Further, in order to maintain cleanliness in the area, she suggested that the Tura Municipal Board continued to carry out proper waste disposal and sanitize the town area every. Moreover, she also suggested calling a meeting with the School Principals before opening of the schools in the district.
Deputy Commissioner, Ram Singh informed that about 650 people stranded outside had registered and come to the district after 4th May, 2020. Entry points have been set up at Tikrikilla and Bajendoba where people should follow entry protocol like health check up and testing by medical officers, present travel history and undertake strict quarantine which would be monitored through IVRS, mandatory mobile app and geo tracing, district ISDP monitoring, etc.
With regard to the apprehensions faced in some localities earlier, he said that the people coming from outside were not necessarily positive cases and urged everyone not to stigmatise them since they would be undergoing necessary protocol as directed by the Ministry of Health department.
Superintendent of Police, Dr. M G R Kumar said that even though strict action was not being taken at the moment, all activities of the people were being monitored closely and cautioned that violators of the order with regard to COVID-19 would be dealt with once the disease subside.
With regard to the query posed by Pastor, Tura Baptist Church Reverend W R Marak for resuming of Sunday church services, Ram Singh informed that it would depend on the directives issued by the State Government soon.