DIMAPUR, May 6 - Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio today asked the people of the State to focus on agriculture and allied sectors, and progressive entrepreneurship.
He was addressing a joint meeting of district officers, members of civil societies, church leaders and NGO representatives in the conference hall of the Tuensang Deputy Commissioner�s office.
Rio clarified that the COVID-19 cess on fuel prices in the State has been levied to reinforce medical facilities and equipment. The Nagaland Government had imposed a six-rupee cess on petrol and a five-rupee cess on diesel from the midnight of April 28.
Appreciating the hard work of frontline and other workers in the ongoing fight against COVID-19, Rio gave details of the video conference held with the Central Government on the law-and-order situation, success stories and loopholes.
Later, along with Deputy Chief Minister Y Patton, Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change CM Chang and Health and Family Welfare Minister S Pangnyu Phom, the Chief Minister inspected the COVID-19 hospital in Tuensang.
He congratulated the people and the Tuensang Chamber of Commerce and Industries on setting up an ICU in the hospital. Rio asked government departments, civil societies, churches and NGOs to work together for the safety of the public.
�As elderly people are more vulnerable to COVID-19, we will continue to take care of them on the basis of the guidelines to contain the infection even though we do not have any positive case in Nagaland till date,� Rio said. He also gave details of relaxation of lockdown and inter-district movement of stranded people.
Deputy Chief Minister Patton, who also holds the Home portfolio, asked Tuensang DC Kumar Ramnikant to direct all villages to open their entry points and allow the stranded people returning from other places, to enter their respective villages.
Health Minister Phom, responding to a memorandum on installation of a ventilator at the Tuensang District Hospital, said ventilators are currently being installed in Kohima and Dimapur. He asked the district administration and the medical department to check the quality of the incoming medical consignment and return it if it is not up to the mark.
