#Coronavirus: Central Ministers given responsibility of states

New Delhi, Mar 27: The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has distributed the responsibility to Central Cabinet Minister to monitor the #Coranavirus pandemic situation in their respective states in days to come. These ministers are told to play an important role in arresting the spread of the pandemic, according to sources.

They are supposed to oversee that poor and needy get the food, supply to ration shops remains uninterrupted, and no shortage of essential commodities in local markets, the letter said.

Union Surface Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and I & B Minister Prakash Javdekar are bestowed with the responsibility of Maharashtra state.

Besides, Muktar Abbas Naqvi is given the responsibility of Jharkhand, Rajnath Singh, Mahendra Nath Pandey, Sanjiv Balyan and Krishna Pal Gurjar are made in charge of Uttar Pradesh, Ravishankar Prasad and Ramvilas Paswan will look after Bihar, and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat will be in charge of Punjab and Rajasthan.

These ministers are told to be in touch with local administration and obtain information about the situation about coronavirus pandemic. Coronavirus has spread from the contact of those who came from foreign countries. To stop its community spread this step is taken, sources said. Senior leaders of other parties are also taken into confidence in this regard.

The ministers are told to look at smooth food supply to the poor and needy besides creating awareness among the masses. The Prime Minister has declared a 21-day lockdown to check the further spread of the pandemic and urged people to observe social distancing as this is the only curative and preventive step.