The State Congress has formed a 15-member task force, headed by former Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar, to monitor the spread of COVID-19 in the State and provide suggestions and guidelines to the party to contain its proliferation.
The party has also decided to set up a helpline to provide support to those in need during the lockdown. Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee working president Saleem Ahmed is the convener of the task force.
The task force will monitor all the programmes of the State and Union governments and work to see that all those programmes reach the needy. The District Congress Committee and Block Congress Committee presidents will monitor relief works in their jurisdictions, a KPCC release said.
Addressing presspersons on Friday, KPCC president-designate D.K. Shivakumar said all legislators have been asked to donate ₹1 lakh each to the relief fund of the party. He also appealed to Congress sympathisers at the taluk and district levels to donate to the relief fund. The funds collected will be utilised as per the guidelines set by the task force, the Congress leader said.
APMC yards
Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah welcomed some of the relief measures undertaken by the Union government and suggested that the State government issue an order on opening APMC yards to enable farmers to sell their produce. Most of the produce of farmers is perishable and, thus, it is necessary to keep APMC yards and markets open, he said.
The former Chief Minister also said that the number of isolation wards in each district should to be increased to 300 to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. The Health Department must take steps to ensure availability of ventilators to all patients, he said.
