GUWAHATI, May 31: The efforts put in by Pachayat and Rural Development (P & RD) Department in Assam through a mass awareness against the COVID19 pandemic in rural areas of the state has helped keeping a large number of gaon panchayats (GPs), Village Council Development Committees (VCDCs) and Village Development Councils (VDCs) free of COVID19 till date.
State P &RD Minister, Ranjeet Kumar Dass today informed that as per the regular report on the initiatives undertaken to fight with COVID-19 in the rural areas of the state, presently 304 GPs/VCDCs/VDCs in the state are COVID-19 free. Out of these 173 are Gaon Panchayats and 131 are VCDCs/VDCs.
The state has 2,197 Gaon Panchayats and 479 VCDCs/VDCs (KAAC: 40 VDCs, DHC:28 VDCs, BTAD:411 VCDCs) under the Sixth Scheduled districts.
The minister hoped with active participation and cooperation of everyone, it would be possible to declare entire rural areas of Assam as COVID free in near future.
COVID-19 outbreak in the state has predominantly remained an urban phenomenon since urban areas have reported the larger number of COVID-19 positive cases.
The role of P & RD Department has become crucial in containment and prevention of COVID-19 in rural areas. The department has taken various profound initiatives to combat COVID-19 through a Jan Andolan (mass movement) in rural areas.
In order to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the rural areas, Gaon Panchayats and VCDCs/VDCs have been geared up to fight against the pandemic in rural areas of the state.
In every GP, a War Room has been set up, which is acting as the nodal point to fight against COVID-19 in the GPs/VCDCs/VDCs. Task Force has been constituted in the GP/VCDC/VDC with participation of the PRI members.
Sanitization activities in the rural areas have been undertaken by the GPs/VDCD/VDCs. Free masks are also distributed to the vulnerable groups, such as job card holders, weaker sections of people, widows, marginal farmers etc. of the GPs wherever necessary.