To battle the Covid-19 crisis with the help of social media, the Punjab government has decided to expand its social media outreach by setting up 15 expert social media teams on outsourced model.

The Cabinet on Wednesday approved an annual budget of Rs Seven Crore for these teams, which will be constituted by engaging professionals and experts in the field, an official spokesperson said.

Chief Minister Amarinder Singh termed the move as vital for expanding the state’s reach and the strengthening the Public Relation department’s efforts in disseminating information regarding various aspects related to the novel Coronavirus pandemic in an effective and result oriented manner.

The Cabinet said since certain departments of the state government have a high level of interaction with the public, it was essential that all important information relating to the pandemic, and the preventive measures being put in place to combat it, should be regularly highlighted on the social media.

The social media teams would help in bridging the gap between these departments and the public at large.In order to cater the requirements of such departments, the Cabinet also gave nod to engage the services of 63 social media professionals, including one media manager, two assistant media managers, 15 digital media executives, 15 video editors, 15 graphic designers and 15 content writers on outsourced basis for a period of one year.

Besides creating awareness among the people about the precautions, norms etc relating to the pandemic, the teams would also help in countering the spread of misinformation by providing credible and updated information to them on a regular basis.

Meanwhile, Punjab Police will hire civilians as domain experts in Information Technology, legal, forensics and finance to give a high quality cutting edge to its investigation functions.

The Amarinder Singh-led Council of Ministers on Wednesday approved a proposal for recruiting 798 such experts directly as plainclothes Civilian Support Staff for the Punjab Investigation Bureau which will induct 4251 personnel, across different ranks and positions, as a result of the restructuring of the Punjab Police department.