No reason to worry, there is sufficient food materials stock:

The Jharkhand government on Wednesday assured the people that it has sufficient food materials stock which can last for several days,and said there is nothing to worry about.

The comforting words came from state's Chief Secretary D K Tiwari in the wake of 21-day nationwide lockdown necessitated by coronavirus pandemic.

"Efforts are afoot to deliver food grains at home, he said.

The officer said that the government was making available necessary commodities to the poor.

He also appealed to the people to extend assistance to the poor living in their neighbourhood.

The state government has sufficient food materials, which can last for several days, and there is nothing to be worried about," the chief secretary said.

Reports of the Jharkhand labourers being stranded in other states are also trickling in, he said, adding the government is establishing contacts with those state governments to enable food and lodging to them.

Tiwari inspected a state-level control room to deal with the lockdown situation at the Suchana Bhavan. It will do round-the-clock vigil, monitoring and tracking of calls and passing on the information to the departments or districts concerned, an official release said here.

A Palamau report said that on the appeal of Deputy Commissioner Santanu Agrahari, the government officials in the district announced to donate 15 days of their salary in the fight against the virus.

Former union minister and Hazaribagh MP Jayant Sinha also announced recommendation of Rs 30 lakh to Hazaribagh and Rs 20 lakh to Ramgarh district from his MPLAD fund to procure items like masks, individual security covers, medical apparatus and ventilators.

He sent letters, which were released to the press, to the respective district deputy commissioners for initiating early action.

In a tweet, Ranchi Deputy Commissioner Rai Mahimapat Ray said, As lots of people are asking about the way to order groceries and other necessary items. Here we are releasing the VeggiGo app. Soon the app will go live. Till then, you can use the numbers provided on the banner.

The first day of the 21-day lockdown saw private vehicles and two-wheelers moving in the state capital before the traffic thinned down as civil and police officials made them aware of the seriousness of the lockdown in the wake of the pandemic and sought their cooperation in the fight against virus.

Earlier, during the day, the state government issued rate-chart of essential commodities at the public distribution outlets amid reports of a few ration shops overcharging the consumers while some others selling them in the black market taking advantage of the lockdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

It asked the buyers to report to the officials concerned if any ration shop overcharged them.

Jharkhand has not reported any coronavirus positive case so far, but the state government is taking measures to prevent COVID-19 outbreak and help citizens during the lockdown period.