In a bid to further check the spread of Coronavirus, the Revenue Department of the Punjab Government has disbursed Rs. 300 Cr. to the various departments of the government and Deputy Commissioners.Disclosing this here today Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster management Minister, Mr. Gurpreet Singh Kangar said that out of this total money Rs. 200 crore has been disbursed to various departments and Rs. 100 crore to districts Deputy Commissioners.He said that out of Rs.100 crore disbursed to the Deputy Commissioners, Rs.98 Cr. has been spent on relocating the migrant workers to their ancestral states, distributing dry rations and on Quarantine.Describing the Revenue Department as the backbone of Punjab, the Revenue Minister said that the Revenue Department was working as the nodal department to deal with COVID-19. He said that even before the announcement of lockdown by the Government of India in view of the emerging threat of the Corona epidemic, the Punjab Disaster Management Department had released Rs. 25 crore to the Health Department to fight the disease.The Cabinet Minister said that the amount received by the Punjab Government from the Government of India and from its own exchequer was immediately released to them as per the requisition of various departments and Deputy Commissioners.Besides this the state executive committee meets daily under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary to resolve the demands and problems of the departments and districts on the spot .
Mr. Kangar said that the Disaster Management department has set up a control room on the third floor of the Punjab Civil Secretariat where the staff is available 24 hours a day to address the problems of the people on telephone. He said that so far more than 11,000 queries have been received from the people in the control room.He said that if any person affected from this disease is in need, he should immediately contact the Deputy Commissioner or Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of the concerned area. Highlighting the performance of the officers / staff of the Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster management in the fight against the Corona pandemic, he said that the employees of the department had registered the people coming to Punjab from different states of India and abroad at the airport on a daily basis during their quarantine. He was examined and followed up. People with Covid-19 symptoms were taken by the department's nodal officers to the state quarantine centers, while those without symptoms were sent home and placed in self-quarantine.He thanked the officers and employees of the Police, Health and Local Government Department for working shoulder to shoulder with the officers and employees of the Revenue, Rehabilitation and Disaster management in this hour of crisis and appealed to the people to take the initiative to prevent this disease and follow the instructions issued by Health authorities.