Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Wednesday refuted the allegations of the Congress members about his government’s ‘mismanagement’ of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying effective steps were taken to contain the spread of coronavirus infections and that HP has performed better as compared to other states.

Thakur, while replying to the adjournment motion in the HP Assembly, said during the onset of COVID-19 pandemic in India, other states were grappling with the problem of tests of infected persons and there was no proper system for their treatment and care.

“On the other hand, the state government started a campaign to search for infected persons and all of them were tested for the disease free of cost. The government not only took care of their treatment but also provided them with supplements and food at COVID care centres.

The state government made arrangements for institutional quarantine of persons coming from other states and even implemented a proper mechanism for taking care of those who were in home quarantine,” he added.

He said on 20 January, Union government intimated the government on viral disease after which the Health and Family Welfare department was asked to mobilize resources to monitor Influenza Like Illness in people.

“Various steps as monitoring of visitors from other countries, especially China, were started in the state and all such persons were asked to fill in self declaration form to monitor their health.

Besides being a tourist state, the district authorities were asked to monitor movement of tourists from China and other virus affected countries for any symptoms of the disease.

Further, major hospitals as IGMC Shimla, Dr RPGMC Tanda were told to establish isolation wards and strengthen infrastructure to gear up to handle outbreak of the disease in the state,” he added.

The Chief Minister said as COVID-19 cases were first reported in the country, the state government in March started various pre-emptive measures as stopping biometric attendance and imposing ban on social/religious gatherings.

In addition, the government banned entry of tourists in the state on 19 March and on 21 March, all sports complexes, saloons and gyms were closed to check the spread of viral disease.

He further stated that the state government provided assistance to the general public during lockdown and the beneficiaries of social security pension were given three months pension in the month of April.

The state government also provided two months ration under PDS to all eligible persons and migrant labourers too were provided with ration for their stay. Further, the government helped residents stranded in other states in reaching safely at their native places.

“The government delivered ration to over 13 lakh people at their doorsteps and over 60,000 patients were provided with medicines at their homes during the lockdown period.

Besides this, the state government has given relief to industries and tourism sector despite suffering a loss of Rs 1,312 crore in state’s own revenue,” he added.