Ensure food security to all migrants returning to Odisha post lockdown: CM to officials

Expecting return of nearly five lakh migrants, mostly labourers, back home after coronavirus-led lockdown is lifted, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday directed officials to ensure food security to all the returnees with or without ration cards.

Patnaik also instructed officials to make rural job scheme target-oriented and double the man-days under MGNREGA scheme in the next one week.

The chief minister said the man-days under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the state should be increased to 10 lakh daily from present 5 lakh.

Patnaik held a video conference meeting with the state's senior officers, including 22 IAS officers deployed as the observers in different districts to monitor COVID-19 management.

Irrespective of ration card status, no one should be deprived of food, Patnaik said.

The chief minister told the senior bureaucrats that COVID-19 management was their "primary responsibility and not an additional charge", hence they should devote full time and energy on containment of the deadly virus.

Chief Secretary, Development Commissioner, DGP, Agriculture Production Commissioner, Private Secretary to the CM and other senior officers also attended the video conference.

"The chief minister has directed us to devote full time and energy on COVID-19 management. Now, we have no department, but the only assignment is to manage coronavirus situation," said Hemant Sharma, who looks after medical equipment procurement from different places.

The chief minister stressed on advance planning to make sure that adequate facilities are available at the gram panchayats and the urban local bodies to accommodate the returnees, most of them labourers, presently held up in different parts of the country due to the nationwide shutdown.

Considering huge number of the expected homecomers, Patnaik suggested the officers to increase the testing capacity to 15,000 daily and involve private testing labs approved by ICMR in the process. At present the state has a testing capacity of 15,000 in a week.

The chief minister also directed Forest and Environment department to begin labour-intensive works and protect the livelihood of kendu leaf pluckers and binders.

The Odisha government has already decided to put the local village authorities at the forefront to manage lakhs of stranded people hailing from the state rushing home post lockdown.

The state government has bestowed on power of collector to sarpanchs (village heads) to help them take tough decision for the purpose.

Patnaik recently administered oath to over 6,000 sarpanchs to ensure their areas remain coronavirus-free.