Exclusive: Guardian Minister of Cachar Ashok Singhal speaks with DC on Covid situation, suggests measures

Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced the list of guardian ministers and the name of districts they will be in charge of. MLA of Dhekiajuli, Ashok Singhal will be the guardian minister of Cachar along with Kokrajhal and Udalguri in his portfolio. Singhal is the Guwahati Development, Urban Development, and Irrigation Minister, Government of Assam.

Guardian Ministers will have to visit their respective districts at least once every month. They will have to ensure implementation of Government policy decisions, Administrative reforms and other people welfare schemes. Speedy implementation of Centrally sponsored schemes and State-owned priority programmes and to dispose of petitions received from the general public. The guardian ministers will have to review the implementation of various schemes in the districts and submit a report to the chief minister.

Cachar has a whole range of issues – many new bridges are built without approaches and therefore they are simply decaying, the Mahasadak remains incomplete and Municipality workers are yet to get their wages. Defunct paper mill employees too have not got their salaries for more than four years and Mizoram has trespassed kilometers within Assam. However, the most critical issue at the moment is the current COVID situation. As many as 12 patients have died in various hospitals with Covid.

“I have spoken with the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar over the phone and took stock of the preparedness. There are a couple of issues, but these are not major issues, the situation is not very grave in the district. Soon I will visit Cachar and take stock of the situation,” said Ashok Singhal while speaking with Barak Bulletin.

The Guardian Minister believes, “Prevention is the best strategy.” He says the emphasis must be on the fact that the patients should not get infected and the ones who do get infected are put in an isolation center where they don’t roam around infecting other people. “When they are infected, the health department will pitch in, but we must see that the health department is not over-burdened with a lot of positive patients,” said Singhal.

Eight of the ten patients declared dead in Silchar Medical College and Hospital yesterday have succumbed within 36 hours of admission. “That is one problem, people are hiding their complications. They must report to the doctor and take admission at an early stage. That is why I am suggesting that there should be isolation centers at every Zilla Parishad level so that we can monitor the patient,” said Ashok Singhal.

“Awareness is there what lacks is implementation,” the Guardian Minister concludes.

It is worth mentioning here that in 2020, Uddhav Thackeray’s Cabinet in Maharashtra had also appointed guardian ministers for each district. As per reports, that has worked well on the ground as the accountability grew manifold. How it progresses in Cachar and the entire state remains to be seen.