CHARSADDA: Chief Minister Mahmood Khan has said that government is taking all possible measures to provide maximum relief to the vulnerable segments of society in the prevailing situation

He was talking to journalists during his visit to Charsadda on Tuesday. The chief minister visited the district to review the measures taken by the administration to control spread of coronavirus.

He visited quarantine centre at Sports Complex Charsadda, isolation wards at Women and Children Hospital Rajjar and Ehsas programme distribution point at high school Rajjar.

Provincial Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Sultan Khan, Special Assistant to Chief minister Arif Ahmadzai, Chief Secretary Dr Kazim Niaz and local lawmakers accompanied the chief minister.

Briefing the chief minister, Deputy Commissioner Adeel Shah said that there were 24 confirmed and 146 suspected of coronavirus cases in the district.

Traders express concern over ‘secret visit’ of Mahmood Khan to Charsadda

He said that 102 persons tested negative whereas results of 20 others were still awaited.

He added that the district had not reported any death of the virus so far.

He said that isolation wards were set up for coronavirus patients in five different hospitals in the district while quarantine centres were established at nine different locations with a total capacity of 224 rooms.

The deputy commissioner said that 2,630 people with foreign travel history had been traced and contacted in the district and except one, all of them were clear with regard to coronavirus.

He said that there was no shortage of food items in the district.

Talking to journalists, the chief minister said that government was taking all possible measures to provide maximum relief to the vulnerable segments of society in the prevailing situation.

He said that under Ehsas Emergency Cash Programme, almost 2.2 million deserving families of the province were being provided Rs12,000 each to mitigate their sufferings.

“The cash amount being distributed under the programme is only meant for the deserving families,” he said and added that no one else would be allowed to get even a single penny under the scheme.

Mr Khan said that the province had testing capacity of 500 tests per day for coronavirus.

He added that steps were being taken on emergency basis to increase the testing capacity to 2,000 tests per day. He appreciated the role of health workers, civil administration, army, police and other relevant bodies in the fight against coronavirus.

He urged people to cooperate with the administration in implementation of the precautionary measures against the pandemic.

The chief minister showed satisfaction over the arrangements put in place by the district administration to deal with the prevailing situation.

Meanwhile, local traders expressed concerns over what they called ‘secret visit’ of chief minister to the district, saying he should have a meeting with them to ascertain their problems.

Mutahidda Shopkeeper Federation president Hakeemullah Fauji, senior vice president Haji Sadiqullah and Haji Sheraz in a joint statement said that traders were cooperating with the government during the lockdown but the government was ignoring their demands. They said that their businesses had been closed for the last 26 days. They also criticised elected representatives for ignoring their problems.

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2020