Assam government seems to have given up its plan to bring the state's residents back stuck in rest of the country and instead has now decided to offer financial assistance to those belonging to the poor and lower middle class category.
Health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday announced a helpline number (9615471547), using which such people in distress can seek financial assistance from the government. "Once they give missed call to this number, they will get a message on how to submit their details for the financial assistance. For those, who can't handle a smartphone or upload details online, a group of young students, who have agreed to assist us will call them one by one and help them to provide the details. After a quick verification of the details, we will try to transfer the money to their bank accounts as early as possible," Sarma said.
He, however, said the state government would soon decide the amount to be paid, based on number of applicants.
A large number of people, including students and migrant workers are now stuck in states like Kerala, Karnataka, Maharastra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Delhi. The state government had earlier wanted to bring them back in batches and put them into quarantine.
But Sarma on Monday said since Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised all states to take care of all who are stuck due to the lockdown, the department now decided to offer financial assistance quickly to reduce their problem. "Most of those, who came back from the rest of the country have already completed their 14-days quarantine period. So if we bring more people and new infection starts, it will be a blow to whatever we have achieved so far," he said.
The state on Monday reported another COVID-19 positive case in western Assam's Dhubri district, taking the total number of positive cases to 30 so far.
The state has so far collected 3,209 samples, of which 3070 tested negative while reports of 109 samples are awaited, Sarma said.
The department has also started providing financial assistance of Rs. 25,000 to the family of cancer, kidney and heart patients from the state, who went for treatment in rest of the country and are stuck there now.