NEC releases Rs 3.25cr to Arunachal to combat COVID-19

Itanagar, Apr 4 () The North Eastern Council (NEC)has released Rs 3.25 crore to Arunachal Pradesh to fightagainst the COVID-19 outbreak in the state, a statement issuedon Saturday said.

This financial assistance does not fall under theexisting central packages and can be utilised as "gap-funding"for the initiatives taken by the state government to tacklethe COVID-19 pandemic.

"The NEC has released the amount to the stategovernment on Friday. The flexibility (for using theresource) would enable the state to respond effectively in atimely manner as per the situation on the ground," thestatement said.

The fund is "in addition to the resources allocated bythe Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER )and the NEC" to the state government under the existingschemes, it said.

The primary focus of the Centre and thestate government is to effectively deal with the situationarising out of the coronavirus outbreak.

One COVID-19 case has been reported in ArunachalPradesh so far, an official said.

In view of the coronavirus outbreak and measures beingtaken to fight the same in the north-east region, DoNERMinister Jitendra Singh had recently held a detailed reviewmeeting with the senior officials of the ministry and the NEC,the statement said.

During the meeting, it was decided that the ministrywould provide Rs 25 crore to the north eastern states tosupport their efforts to fight against the outbreak, it added. UPLBDC BDC