Meghalaya govt spends Rs 399 crore in fight against COVID-19

SHILLONG

The Meghalaya Government has so far spent a total amount of Rs 399 crore in the fight against COVID-19 from March till the end of September this year.

While addressing reporters in the city on Tuesday, Deputy Chief Minister Prestone Tynsong said that the state government has, so far, cleared different bills amounting to a total of Rs 251 crore, with Rs 141 crore remaining.

He informed that the total financial assistance received from the Central Government is Rs 48 crore.

The statement made by the Deputy CM was in response to questions concerning the expenditure incurred by the state government in dealing with the COVID-19 situation.

Giving a break-up of the amount spent by the state government, Tynsong said that Rs 189.9 crore was spent from the National Health Mission (NHM) on the Corona Care Centres, procurement of ambulances, PPEs and on the laboratories.

“The Government spent another Rs 82.4 crore from the Director of Health Services (DHS) for procurement of machines like BiPAP machine, oxygen cylinders, Digital IR Thermometers, ply masks, gloves and thermal scanners,” Tynsong said.

ALSO READ: Meghalaya Recruitment 2020: Apply Openings in NESAC

An amount of Rs 14.7 crore was spent from the Chief Minister’s Special Grant (CMSG) for transporting the stranded citizens and for provision of kits.

Tynsong also informed that the state government spent Rs 7.4 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) on the procurement of ambulances and biomedical waste management vehicles among others.

According to him, the state government spent Rs 51 crore from the Chief Minister’s Relief Against Wage Loss Scheme on financial assistance to over 2 lakh construction workers.

The state government made an advanced sanction of Rs 25 lakh to each MLA from the Special Rural Works Programme (SRWP) Scheme to extend financial assistance to the respective constituency, Tynsong said.

The advanced payment made to the MLAs has touched Rs 15 crore.

Tynsong further informed that an amount of Rs 3.05 crore was spent from the PM CARES for accommodation facilities, food, medical treatment and transportation.

ALSO READ: Meghalaya: Process of Convalescent plasma therapy begins in NEIGRIHMS

Tynsong said that they had spent an amount of Rs. 8.9 crore from the District Mineral Fund (DMF) for the screening points and quarantine centres.

He further informed that a total amount of Rs 23.7 crore was spent under the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) for the creation of additional laboratories, purchase of testing kits, PPEs, thermal scanners, setting up of containment zones, etc.

According to him, the state government had spent an amount of Rs 3.5 crore through the Urban Affairs Department for the sanitisation exercises carried out in urban areas.

BILL CLEARED

Besides this, the Deputy Chief Minister informed that the bills which were cleared by the Government include NHM - Rs 92.7 crore, DHS - Rs 44.2 crore, Chief Minister’s Relief Against Wage Loss Scheme - Rs 6.4 crore, CMRF - Rs 7.4 crore, Relief Against Wage Loss - Rs 51 crore, MLA scheme- Rs 15 crore, PM CARES - Rs 3.5 crore, DMF - Rs 8.9 crore and SDRF - Rs 23.7 crore.