Lockdown: Odisha announces Rs 3,000 for urban street vendors & cooked food for 10 lakh rural people

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced financial assistance of Rs 3,000 each for street vendors in urban areas and cooked food for 10 lakh rural people during the lockdown.

The decision to help street vendors in urban areas and poor people in rural pockets came a day after the state governments announcement of Rs 2,200 crore financial package to assist the weaker sections of the society, hit by the lockdown, imposed in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak.

I announce Rs 3,000 financial assistance for each street vendor in all the 114 urban local body areas across the state, Patnaik said in a video message, adding that as many as 65,000 registered street vendors will benefit from the announcement.

This apart, Patnaik also announced that the about 100 to 200 identified poorest of the poor people of every gram panchayat will be served cooked food every day during the lockdown period. He said the self-help groups will be engaged in cooking and distribution of food among the distressed and poor people.

The people can take the food to their houses and consume it, he said. About 10 lakh poor and people in distress will benefit from this announcement, the chief mister said, adding that the daily wage earner, poor and labour class people have been severely hit by the lockdown. Stating that lockdown was most effective to stop the spread of the highly infectious COVD-19, Patnaik said the state government has further intensified its war against the novel coronavirus.

We can easily win over the virus if we stay at our homes, Patnaik said, adding that the state government had on Friday announced three months advance ration for the people covered under food security schemes and four-month social security pension for the poor people in the wake of the lockdown.

The chief minister in another video message said that many people from Odisha are standard in different places across the country. They may be in distress, he said. I have requested all the chief ministers to assist the Odia people stranded in different states through their local administration. Now, I request all Odia Associations in these states to come forward to help the fellow Odias. We will reimburse the cost from the Chief Ministers Relief Fund, Patnaik said. Patnaik reiterated his appeal to the people to remain indoors and wash hands with soap to stop the spread of the deadly virus.

Image Credits: ANI