Lockdown effective along borders in North-East: Govt

Union Minister of State for Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the guidelines of lockdown and social distancing have been effectively maintained in all northeastern states along the region's 5,500 km international borders with five countries.

Agartala:The ongoing lockdown in the eight northeastern states, including Sikkim, has been effectively enforced along the region's 5,500 km international borders with five countries, Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said.

An official press release of the DoNER Ministry quoting the minister said that all the guidelines of lockdown and social distancing have been effectively maintained in all the states specially along the bordering areas.

The Union Home Ministry since March 15 had sealed the northeastern states' international borders with China, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and asked the border guarding forces to maintain a strict vigil along the frontiers.

The DoNER ministry release said that the ministry and the North Eastern Council (NEC) had sanctioned Rs 25 crore to eight northeastern states for gap funding to fight the COVID-19 outbreak effectively.

"This fund can be utilised on any activity relating to COVID-19 pandemic and not covered under existing central packages. The flexibility of the funds would enable the states to respond quickly. This fund would be in addition to the funds otherwise allocated by the Ministry and the NEC to the northeastern states under the existing schemes," the release added.

Of Rs 25 crore, Assam received the highest amount of Rs 5 crore followed by Arunachal Pradesh Rs 3.25 crore and Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Manipur, Nagaland got Rs 3 crore each and Sikkim received Rs 1.75 crore.

The DoNER minister last week held a review meeting through video-conferencing and informed that 100 per cent work of the Ministry was on e-Office, making it easier to comply with the directions of government to work from home mode.

PTI Report