Covid-19: UP gives ration to 7 mn people; sets up 522 community kitchens

Uttar Pradesh has supplied ration to more than 19.4 million public distribution system (PDS) beneficiaries, of which nearly 7.1 million ration card holders have been provided with free food grain even as 55 positive coronavirus patients have so far been identified in the state.

There are approximately 32.3 million PDS ration card holders in the state, UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said here today. He said the remaining beneficiaries will be supplied their ration in the coming days.

Meanwhile, nearly 522 community kitchens have been set up with nearly 137,000 food packets distributed on Saturday itself. “The milk production in the state stood at almost 1.6 million litres, while 1.05 million litres were supplied to the people at doorsteps,” he informed.

The state government has ramped up 26,298 mobile vans and manual carts for the doorstep delivery of fruits and vegetables in UP, of which Lucknow alone is being served with 3,280 four-wheelers/carts.

Besides, 8,833 provision stores have deployed 16,509 doorstep delivery personnel for the benefit of the people during the lockdown, Awasthi added.

The state government has urged the social and religious organisations to come forward for operating these community kitchens to provide food to the slum dwellers, destitute and those travelling from their lockdown workplaces to their native villages and towns.

The state has deployed more than 15,000 publicity vans equipped with public address system across the state’s 75 districts to create awareness regarding coronavirus and to contain its spread.

So far, UP Police have registered 4,642 first information reports (FIR) under Section 188 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) for defying the government orders pertaining to the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897.

More than 14,115 persons had been challaned in these cases. The cops have checked 466,000 vehicles during the lockdown period, of which about 115,000 vehicles were challaned for violating the orders and a fine of over Rs 2 crore recovered from the offenders.

Besides, the government has filed more than 24 FIRs under the Essential Commodities Act (ECA) under the charges of black marketing and hoarding of essential commodities, including food, medicines etc. The state has announced to even slap the stringent National Security Act (NSA) if required.

The state has identified 5,000 isolation and 6,000 quarantine beds in UP for corona patients and suspected cases. “We are planning to ramp up isolation and quarantine beds number to 15,000 and 15,000-20,000 each respectively in the coming days,” UP medical, health and family welfare principal secretary Amit Mohan Prasad said.

The private hospitals and medical colleges have also come forward to offer their facilities for converting into coronavirus hospitals.

“More than 60,000 people had arrived in UP from foreign destinations and they are being monitored. We will keep their track for the next 28 days,” he informed.