Assam water resources, parliamentary affairs and I&PR minister, Pijush Hazarika, on July 9 said that illegal liquor hubs are one of the prime locations responsible for the spread of COVID-19.
Hazarika issued instructions to take strict action within 3 days against the illegal liquor hubs in Biswanath district of Assam. He is the ‘guardian minister’ of the district.
The minister said that based on his own research, he has figured out that areas where illegal liquor hubs exist transform into COVID hotspots. Hazarika cited examples from other districts to corroborate his finding. He was in Biswanath district on July 9 to review the COVID-19 situation of the district.
“To control the COVID situation in Biswanath district, all illegal liquor hubs will have to be destroyed within three days. There will be no compromise on this ground. I want everyone to take this order with utmost seriousness,” said Hazarika.
He said the circle officers would be answerable in the event of non-compliance of his order in their respective revenue circles.
The minister also asked the administration and the health department to ramp up vaccination in and around areas which have been identified as COVID hotspots. Further, he said that to minimize the risk of a positive patient transmitting the virus to others, home isolation should not be encouraged at all. Only those patients who strictly meet all the criteria of home isolation; as laid down by National Health Mission (NHM), should be allowed to stay at home, said minister Pijush Hazarika.
Biswanath district is under round-the-clock curfew since June 28. Figures show that since curfew has been imposed, the positivity rate too has come down. As a comparative study, the positivity rate, which was 3.35 per cent in pre-curfew days, has now dropped down to 2.77 per cent.
Minister Pijush Hazarika reviews PHED projects
Minister Pijush Hazarika also briefly reviewed the ongoing projects under the Public Health and Engineering (PHE) department. He has issued instructions to the concerned officials to expedite the projects under Jal Jeevan Mission and to ensure that works get completed within the stipulated deadlines.
Apart from minister Pijush Hazarika review meeting was also attended by Biswanath MLA Promod Borthakur, Behali MLA Ranjit Dutta, Gohpur MLA Utpal Borah, Biswanath district’s guardian secretary Rajesh Prasad, DC Pranab Kumar Sarmah, SP Ripul Das, SDO (C) Gohpur Aditya Vikram Yadav and other administrative officers and heads of various departments.
