A status report filed by the government in the Supreme Court said Union Home Minister Amit Shah is personally supervising the implementation of directives and advisories issued by his ministry in the fight against COVID-19.
The report, which is the second one filed in court in connection with a petition filed by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava, said the Home Ministry has taken “immediate, timely, effective and proactive actions almost on a daily basis”. The case is scheduled to be heard on April 27.
The report, signed by Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla, said, “Home Minister is personally supervising the implementation of various directives/advisories issued by the Home Ministry along with the Cabinet Secretary, Home Secretary and senior officers in the control room which is operational 24 hours”.
The reports also lists how the Civil Aviation Ministry has started ‘Lifeline Udan’ to transport essential medical cargo. Over 180 flights have flown over 1.6 lakh km carrying 258 tons of medical cargo.
It said the Indian Railways have served over 10 lakh free meals besides converting 4950 train coaches to COVID-19 care centres.
Among other steps taken, teh report said the Press Information Bureau’s Fact Check Unit had received, between April 2 and April 9, a total of 1,458 cases and replied or countered 1,324 cases. The status report said a Twitter handle by the Information Ministry called @COVIDNewsBy has 38,000 followers and its tweets have appeared 13 million times on the timelines of users.
The report said the Information Ministry engaged 165 celebrities in its awareness campaigns against virus spread through 620 video bulletins.
The report also mentioned how “private broadcasters have taken proactive steps to engage with people at large and four entertainment channels have been made free to air to meet the entertainment needs of house-bound people”.
