GUWAHATI, April 14 - The governments in the State and at the Centre should develop a robust system of public consultation to find out solutions to all the difficult problems concerning our society. This is more pertinent in the periods like the present-day coronavirus-related lockdown, said Save Guwahati Build Guwahati (SGBG).
Talking to this newspaper on Saturday, SGBG president Krishno Kanto Borooah and its vice president Ajoy Dutta said that if the country can develop such a robust system of public consultation, many difficult issues related to our society could be resolved amicably.
The issue of migration of the people from various places to their homes during this lockdown period could have been solved without any clamour had there been a thorough public consultation on the issue prior to declaring the lockdown. This would have necessitated some more quarantine centres and many of them would have to be located at locations outside our metropolitan areas. But, handling the problem of such migration would have been much easier then. For, the migrants would have been able to return to their homes without much hiccup.
Of late, the State�s Health Minister has stated that those people from the State who are stuck in different locations outside the State due to the lockdown, would be provided full material support by the State government. Though this is a good decision, the government may also consider the option of taking them back to the State and placing them in some quarantine centres for the mandatory period of 14 days and then allow them to return to their homes. This will help in doing away the emotional part of this problem and also reduce the financial burden on the State government to some extent, said the SGBG president and vice president.
At the same time, they said the government should also actively consider the issue of doorstep delivery of the essential items, including medicines and vegetables, or else the lockdown protocol is sure to lose its efficacy.
