HYC asks govt to provide financial aid to people under quarantine

Syllad | The Rising MeghalayaApril 20, 2020

The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) has urged the state government to provide one-time financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to people or families, who have asked to self-quarantine.  

In a memorandum submitted to the chief minister Conrad K Sangma on Monday, HYC general secretary Roy Kupar Synrem said, “Firstly, to those families or persons,who were asked to self quarantine, the government should provide a one time assistance of Rs 5000 per family as was done to the residents of the state who are stranded outside.”

“Secondly, the Government should initiate steps to ensure that these quarantined families/persons are not deprived of their basic necessities during the period of quarantine,” Synrem added.

He suggested that volunteers should be appointed in each village or locality to ensure that essential commodities are delivered to these households and without any delivery charges, so that these persons are encouraged to follow the strict quarantined procedures and complete it as advised. Assistance of local authorities maybe taken in this regard.

It may be mentioned that over 4198 people are under home quarantine while 175 people are under institutional quarantine following the recent COVID-19 outbreak in the state.

These many include primary and secondary contacts of the first coronavirus victim.

Appreciating the initiatives taken by the government to prevent further spread of the virus, the HYC however reiterated the need for the government to address the concerns relating to the matter at the earliest. 

It said this given the facts that most of these primary and secondary contacts, belong to areas outside of Shillong and maybe does  not have a regular income to sustain themselves. 

The HYC further stated that although the state government has announced certain activities like MNREGS Works, Agricultural activities, etc to be exempted from the lockdown from April 20, it is a fact that these people or families will not be able to work until they are quarantined for the specific period as advised and thus will not be able to economically support themselves and their families.