Assam government on April 20 released monetary help to around 86,000 people who were stuck outside the state due to nationwide lockdown to contain COVID-19 pandemic.
After providing financial succor to people stranded abroad and patients in other parts of the country during the nationwide lockdown, the Assam government on April 20 dispatched monetary help to its people stuck in different states. An amount of Rs 2,000 each was transferred to bank accounts of 86,000 people of Assam stranded in different states of the country.
Assam Finance and Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the number of beneficiaries will continue to increase as verification process was on, adding that more financial assistance will be provided to these people in a second phase before the opening of the lockdown.
He informed that the helpline number circulated by the state government for the stranded people to reach out to the government had received over 9.5 lakh missed calls, out of which 4,29,851 were found to be individual or single number calls, with many missed calls coming from the same number multiple times, including a single caller giving over 200 missed calls.
Out of these individual callers, 2,28,126 have already filled up a form sent to them through a web link and over 99,700 such people have been verified to be genuinely in need of financial assistance.
“The verification process is going on, so the number of beneficiaries will continue to increase. We hope to get the final figure in two-three days,” the minister added.
Earlier, the state government had provided financial assistance to people stranded in other countries and serious patients in other parts of the country.
Sarma further said the data collected for disbursing the financial help will also help the state government to prepare for the inflow of its people when the lockdown is opened or restrictions are eased.
He said, “We now have data on which states have most people from Assam, and also, which districts of Assam have most people outside. When the inflow starts, we can be better prepared.”
As per the figures compiled for providing the monetary help, there are 68,000 people from Assam in Karnataka, 36,000 in Tamil Nadu, 34,000 in Kerala, and 21,000 in Maharashtra, among other states.
Altogether 34 positive cases of COVID 19 have been detected in the state so far, out of which one patient has died due to complications arising out of the infection and 18 have made full recovery and have been discharged from hospitals.
