The Srinagar administration has released a substantial amount of 3 crore rupees to the health and municipal departments and other concerned offices of the district.
The amount was released to enable these departments to procure requisite equipment and items for strengthening the response mechanism to deal with the challenge from the coronavirus epidemic.
The health department was provided a major chunk of the amount — including Rs 70 lakh each to the Office of the Chief Medical Officer Srinagar and the SKIMS Medical College & Hospital and Rs 20 lakh to the Government Medical College Srinagar.
The Srinagar Municipal Corporation was also provided funds as part of the release. The organisation was provided Rs 35 lakh to support and enhance its ongoing sanitisation and disinfection measures and other activities.
Each of the seven Tehsildars whose offices are also actively involved in the effort have also been provided funding to equip them and enhance their capabilities. The officers have been provided an amount of Rs 2 lakh each.
This substantial funding to the tune of Rs 2.10 crore in aggregate has been released under the State Disaster Response Fund or SDRF.
In addition to this the administration also released 90 lakh rupees to three major hospitals for strengthening their power backup facilities.
The amount includes Rs 50 lakh to SMHS hospital, Rs 30 lakh to LD hospital and Rs 10 lakh to JLNM hospital. The amount was released under the Special Area Development Programme or SADP.
Deputy Commissioner Srinagar Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary who authorised release of the funding said the government is taking all measures and steps required to deal with this challenging situation. He said all that would be required will be done to strengthen the response mechanism for containing spread of this infection in the disaster.
It is notable that the Srinagar administration has put in place extensive containment measures to prevent spread of the coronavirus infection in district. The response mechanism has been further intensified after a positive case surfaced in the district.