Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region Jitendra Singh held a meeting with the Chief Secretaries of Northeastern states over COVID-19, via video conference, on Saturday.
Singh said that the North-East has fared better than most of the other regions of India in tackling COVID-19 and that under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the North-East has emerged as a model of development.
The minister further said that in the last six weeks, the North-East has emerged as a 'model of corona management' and it was possible because of the 'early preventive steps taken by the Modi government' and the 'cooperation of the people of the region'.
"To a great extent the disciplined and civilized manner in which the people there cooperated both in social distancing and following the guidelines; people came out with very innovative ways of maintaining social distancing. It was there that people started putting those white rounds while standing in the queues," said Jitendra Singh.
"Since the summer has set in, they have started using make-shift umbrellas for the queue to beat the summer heat, and I'm sure that other parts of the country will also emulate it. People in the region have been much more receptive and hospitable to those who have been coming from outside," added Singh.
The minister assured that supplies were being made available in adequate quantities and there was no shortage despite the topographical and geographical constraints. He also appreciated the government's decision to ensure early sealing of all the borders.
Singh informed that a village in Mpur set up about 18 make-shift hutments for quarantine so that people could keep themselves segregated without antagonising those coming back.
"The state governments have been cooperative; I must appreciate the Ministry of DoNER and the Northeastern Council. We have a headquarter in Shillong, which turned into a control room. We have been coordinating with all the state governments on a daily basis, the Chief Ministers also, almost every day," he said.
"As part of the sequence, today also we were interacting with the Chief Secretaries of all the eight states and our helpline or our group that we have created is available all 24 hours so that we can coordinate," he added.
Singh further said that steps are being taken up to make people beneficiaries of the Rs 20 lakh crore package, biggest ever announced by the PM, which has created a lot of enthusiasm, hope and optimism among the people of North-East.
( With inputs from ANI )