ITANAGAR, 22 Jul: Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Thursday called upon the district administrations and the health department to achieve cent percent first-dose Covid-19 vaccination coverage by mid-August, based on headcount.
Chairing a virtual e-Pragati meeting with the district administrations on Thursday, the CM emphasized on using headcount as the base for the vaccination drive, rather than using electoral rolls or population census.
He said headcount would give the correct status of the vaccination doses as a good chunk of the population of interior districts may have their names in the electoral rolls of their respective districts but are settled in urban areas of other districts, where they might have got their vaccine.
“For example, if we go by the electoral rolls as per guidelines, the Itanagar capital region has already vaccinated way above 100 percent of its population. Similarly, in some districts like Kra Daadi, they have vaccinated less than 50 percent of their population, as per the electoral rolls number,” he said.
Khandu expressed appreciation for the fact that most of the districts have completed the headcount of their existing populations and are on a drive to vaccinate them all. He urged the districts which are yet to do so to complete the headcount by July-end.
Informing that there is no shortage of vaccines, the CM requested the district administrations to “reach out, convince and vaccinate all with at least the first dose by mid-August.”
Referring to the government’s efforts to economically empower self-help groups (SHG) of the state through credit and market linkages, the chief minister said, “The role of deputy commissioners in the success of this endeavour is paramount.”
“Eighty-five percent of our people belong to the rural populace. So, to develop Arunachal Pradesh economically, empowering them is a must. Why not achieve this through our SHGs? It is the best option, and now banks are also coming forward to partner in offering credit linkages,” he said.
Khandu also drew the attention of the administrators towards the problem of drug abuse. He informed that the cabinet recently passed the Arunachal Pradesh Policy on Psychoactive Substances 2021-26 to curb the menace, and called for sincere and proactive role by the district administrations.
“Drug abuse is more dangerous than terrorism. Therefore, our focus should be on a long-term fight to root it out completely,” he said.
During the course of the meeting, several major issues were raised, discussed and actions sought. These included petroleum and hydrocarbon extraction and exploration, crime and criminal tracking network and system, CAMPA, construction of road to Tali, multi-storied parking lot at the civil secretariat and elsewhere in the state capital, the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (rural and urban), implementation of MGNREGA, etc.
The meeting was also attended by Education Minister Taba Tedir and Health Minister Alo Libang, besides the chief secretary, commissioners and secretaries.
The chief minister also launched two important web portals – one of the education department and the other of the state control room – to transparently manage the Covid-19 status. Both the portals have been designed by the information technology department.
The web portal http://education.arunachal.gov.in/ is equipped with features like a grievance cell to enable online solutions, feedback and monitoring of teachers’ performance. One of its unique features is the ‘Know your teacher’ link, which enables any visitor to get details of any teacher serving in any of the government schools in the state.
The state control room website, http://statecontrolroom.arunachal.gov.in/, hosts a dynamic Covid-19 analytical dashboard. This integrated web portal will help design better response and evolve best strategies in the fight against Covid-19. This dashboard can also be used for any emergency situation.
Later, briefing the press about the education department’s web portal, Tedir said that the portal would not only provide the latest information about the various activities of the department to all the stakeholders but would also act as an accountability mechanism for all teachers through the ‘Know your teacher’ module.
“All the details of the teachers working under the department and their places of posting will be available on this portal. In recent months, we have received complaints of bogus teachers. This will help to check such wrong practices as all the details of the teachers and schools will be available on the portal,” he said.
On the issue of delay in disbursement of scholarships/stipends to the students every year, Tedir said such delays occur due to technical issues.
“The bureaucracy and technical issues cause some kind of delay. But the department makes an effort to ensure that students do not suffer unnecessarily,” he said.
Education Commissioner Niharika Rai explained the various aspects of the web portal.
“The latest details about the teachers along with their photographs have been placed in the public domain through this web portal. This is expected to address the proxy/ghost teachers’ issue to a large extent,” she said.
Moreover, an additional feature has been provided in the portal, called ‘Register your issue/grievance’, wherein any issue or grievances related to the education department may be registered by the public, using a valid mobile number.
The education department plans to further upgrade the web portal and mobile application while moving towards digitizing the relevant records of the teachers, employees and students. (With input from CM’s PR Cell)
