Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said farsighted decisions and timely initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi have resulted in India handling COVID-19 pandemic effectively as compared to other countries.

Addressing virtual rallies of Yuva Morchas of Solan and Dehra in Kangra district, he said there were around 24 COVID-19 cases in the country per lakh population as compared to 656 per lakh in US and 622 per lakh in Spain.

Similarly, the death rate due to COVID-19 in India was 0.70 per lakh population as compared to 61 deaths per lakh in the US, he added.

“The people of the state and country are fortunate to have a visionary leadership of PM Modi as the COVID-19 cases were not so alarming in the country owing to his farsighted decisions and timely initiatives,” he said.

Chief Minister said that the BJP government at Centre had completed one year in office recently and many historic decisions were taken which includes abrogation of Article 370, abolition of Triple Talaq, Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and paving way for construction of Lord Ram temple at Ayodhya.

He lauded the role of the youth of the state in COVID-19 pandemic by providing food, masks and other essential items to the people and urged Yuva Morcha members to come forward to disseminate the policies and programmes of the Centre as well as state government.

“The youth also helped the state government in sensitizing the people regarding the importance of social distancing in checking the pandemic.

They also played a crucial role in ensuring that the people do not jump home quarantine,” he said.

Thakur said the state government took all preventive measures to check the spread of this virus and at one stage, Himachal was about to become Corona free but due to arrival residents were stranded in different parts of the country which led to a spike in cases.

He called on the people of the state need not worry as all the people coming to the state were being allowed to go home only after their proper testing.

The Chief Minister further stated that the Rs 20 lakh crore economic package announced by the Union Government would go a long way in reviving the economy of the country.

“Free gas connections have been provided to 2.76 lakh families under Ghirini Suvidha Yojna and 1.36 lakh connections under Ujjawala Yojna.

In addition, Rs 500 each has been deposited in the accounts of 5.90 lakh eligible women under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna during the month of April, May and June, 2020,” he added.

State Industries Minister Bikram Singh said youth of the Yuva Morcha have played a vital role during the COVID-19 epidemic and they had contributed generously towards state COVID-19 Fund and PM CAREs besides distributing face masks and sanitizers to the people.