Rising COVID-19 cases in Rajasthan no cause for worry, objective is to detect maximum cases: Ashok Gehlot 

Rajasthan’s count of more than 2,000 COVID-19 cases is t a cause of worry because state government’s objective is to ensure t a single case goes undetected, says Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot. Rajasthan’s virus tally on Wednesday was 2,364 with 51 fatalities, according to Union Health Ministry.  

“re is need to worry if total number of cases go up. state wants that body with disease should go unticed,” Gehlot told PTI in an interview.

chief minister talked extensively about various steps taken by state government to control spre of disease, mitigate problems of those severely affected by lockdown and impact of pandemic outbreak on Rajasthan’s ecomy.

He said state’s revenue was dwindling in wake of nationwide lockdown, ding that Centre is yet to act constructively on Rajasthan’s demand to release outstanding GST arrears. senior Congress leer also called for special trains to take migrant workers stranded at different places in country to ir homes.

Gehlot said he has discussed issue with Central government.  “I urged Centre to put in place necessary mechanisms to take migrant workers home. Centre should run special trains to transport m to ir native places.”

On earning praise for effectively controlling disease in Bhilwara, Gehlot said containment model was successful in textile town as it is t densely populated and ministration acted swiftly.  

He said containment strategy in or regions of state, where a large number of COVID-19 cases have been reported, is taking time due to dense population.

Bhilwara became a hotspot after three doctors and nine nursing staffers of a private hospital tested positive.

“We introduced strict containment strategies in hotspot areas. ‘Bhilwara model’ was opted in Jaipur, Kota and or hotspot areas of state.

“It becomes more difficult to control spre of a disease in densely populated areas,” he said

chief minister cited example of Jaipur’s Parkota area (Ramganj locality) where population is higher than Bhilwara.

“In this region, many families reside in one house. So we divided region into 30 clusters and conducted testing… a reason why re are more number of cases re,” Gehlot explained.

chief minister also dismissed opposition’s allegations that government relaxed restrictions in areas populated by Muslim community.

“se are baseless allegations. When some (COVID-19) cases were reported in Jaipur Parkota, action was taken immediately,” he said.

Gehlot did t name any opposition leer but said disease does t differentiate between religion, caste or nationality.

He agreed with former Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s view that a lockdown is t a permanent solution to pandemic, and ded that more factors should be looked into to find a way out of crisis.

three-time chief minister and long-time Congress leer also urged Centre to provide quality rapid testing kits and and or essential equipment. Many states, he said, are battling problem of t having eugh safety paraphernalia.

  “We h got rapid testing kits from ICMR, but stopped using m after y turned out to be faulty. state has increased number of PCR tests,” he said.

On revenue loss to state due to COVID-19 situation, Gehlot said Rajasthan registered Rs 18,000 crore loss in 2019-20.

“ state lost Rs 3,500 crore in March end when lockdown was imposed for first time. re will be more losses in coming months,” he said.  

“ states have demanded Rs 1 lakh crore from Centre to tide over COVID-19 crisis. y have also called for relaxation in interest payments of loans for at least six months,” he said.

chief minister also said state received praise for its containment strategy in recent meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief ministers via video conferencing.

He, however, refused to comment on recent visit of Central teams to certain states to check ir COVID-19 preparedness.  

Gehlot said he has discussed issue of stranded migrant workers in various parts of country with Central government.  

  “I urged Centre to put in place necessary mechanisms to take migrant workers home. Centre should run special trains to transport m to ir native places,” he commented.

chief minister ded that Rajasthan was one of first states to anunce a relief pack for poor hit by lockdown.

He said state anunced a pack of around Rs 3,000 crore for poor, migrants and or disvantd sections of society amid lockdown.

“Apart from it, 78 lakh social security pensioners were given two months of pension in vance. state also released aid of Rs 2,500 each to 33 lakh people. se include daily w earners, construction labourers, street vendors, waste pickers, rickshaw drivers among ors,” chief minister said.

He ded that state government h recently decided to give 10 kg of wheat for free to 60 lakh people.