Nitish holds meeting with MLAs on COVID-19, says their feedback is valuable

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday reached out to MLAs from various political parties, seeking their cooperation in his government's efforts to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and assuring them that their feedback and suggestions would be acted upon by the officials concerned.

The chief minister interacted with the legislators at a meeting held via video conferencing which was attended, among others, by his deputy Sushil Kumar Modi, cabinet colleagues Prem Kumar, Vijendra Prasad Yadav and Mangal Pandey besides assembly Speaker Vijay Kumar Chaudhary.

Those from the opposition camp included RJD leaders Tejashwi Yadav and Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Congress legislature party leader Sadanand Singh and former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi (Hindustani Awam Morcha).

Kumar told the legislators that elected representatives in panchayats were playing an active role in the battle against the coronavirus and officials have been instructed to keep MLAs in the loop, pay close attention to their feedback and suggestions and take necessary action.

"Many elected representatives do call me up directly to apprise me of the situation in their area. Their inputs are taken note of and acted upon. The pandemic is massive, has brought even a world power like America on its knees and we must stand together to fight it out," Kumar told the meeting.

The chief minister recalled pro-active measures taken in the state, which included proroguing of the assembly budget session ahead of schedule on March 16 and a state-wide lockdown clamped on March 22, three days before a nationwide lockdown was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi which remains in force and is to continue at least till May 17.

He also informed the MLAs about the government's efforts like door-to-door screening of all people, on the lines of the state's much acclaimed Pulse Polio Campaign a decade ago which eradicated the virus from Bihar.

The door-to-door screening has so far covered seven crore people, more than half of the state's population. "Seventy-six blocks in 32 districts of the state have been affected by the outbreak," he said.

He also shared with the legislators the challenges that the state is likely to face with migrant workers returning in droves on board special trains which are being run, amid a complete suspension of passenger rail traffic, upon the request of state governments concerned.

In the recent past, a spike has been witnessed in fresh cases which has been to a large extent because of people coming to Bihar from outside, carrying the infection. Their contacts formed a chain of contagion which we are trying to break," Kumar said.

He also expressed serious displeasure over attempts by "anti-social elements" to disrupt harmony by posting rumours on the social media and urged the MLAs to do their bit in stemming the rot while his government was at work to crack down on such people.

Scrupulous adherence to lockdown restrictions is a reason why Bihar has been less severely affected than many other states. The threat, however, remains and it is essential that we remain vigilant and take precautionary measures like social distancing," he added.